Maze
by I'mFreeAsMyHair
Summary: We all lie. We all do things we regret. We all hide the truth from others, from ourselves. How can we trust anyone? From the way they look? But sometimes the truth needs to come out. We have to let the world know our secrets, know who we truly are. So really it's a shock that we trust anyone at all.
1. A new beginning

**The first chapter is just a filler: it introduces the characters, the relations and the setting. Please enjoy.****  
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* * *

"Jerome, put me down!" squealed Mara, wriggling in the tall man's strong arms.

He chuckled and shook his head "You're finally mine now." carrying the small, petite woman dressed in a beautiful, long white dress. Mara blushed but continued to protest, "J, we can't leave our own wedding reception. What will the guests say when they realise we're nowhere to be seen?''

Casually, Jerome shrugged "Baby, it's our wedding, we can do what we want. Besides, we've cut the cake and you've had your dessert, but what about my dessert?" he smirked.

As Jerome unlocked their door of the hotel suite, he stepped inside and released Mara to let her lie down on the king size bed. Mara watched him walk back to the door to lock it, never leaving her eyes away from him. Her breathing quickened as Jerome smoothly slid out of his slick black blazer.

"Let me love you, Mara Clarke," whispered Jerome, straddling her slim waist and his hands cupped on her warm cheeks. He leaned down, thin lips leaving short soft kisses on her neck to her collarbone. Mara pushed her fingers through his dirty blonde hair, wanting to feel more and more was what she was to feel. Jerome let go of her cheeks and moved his large hands down her body. His fingers slid underneath the straps of the dress and pushed it away from her tanned shoulders.

Flushed and eager, Mara let out a soft moan of need, "Please, Jerome." she begged huskily, as she sat up, so their rising chests were touching and her hands wrapped around his neck. Jerome kissed her forehead and swiftly pinned her back down to the bed.

He moved off of Mara, grabbed her toned legs and held them high up in the air. Still holding her ankles, he kneeled in front of her to allow her legs rest on his broad shoulders. Her dress had fallen down to her hips in a puddle of white silk, leaving her legs bare. Jerome brought her right foot towards his mouth and kissed each little toe of hers, while massaging the middle of her foot with his thumb, leaving Mara into quiet giggles from the ticklish and sensitive sensations.

Finally, Jerome stopped teasing Mara, due to her filthy pouting for fast and rough punk funk, as he pulled the dress over her body, threw it on the floor and kissed her full plump lips. Their lips moved in a fast, shameless and swinging rhythm. Tongues tasting each other's heated and hungry desires. Wet and rapturous sparks of gratification.

Mara's fingers traced Jerome's strong jaw line and then tugged on his white-collar, unbuttoning his shirt to run her hands over his naked chest and his muscled back.

A low groan rumbled out of Jerome, as he unbuckled his belt, which lead the night to become hot and sweaty, with their glistening libido whitening the bed to a pool of thick leather.

The bedroom was soon tinged with the smell of blood and semen. It was nothing cheap, but quite the opposite. Expensive and surprisingly refined.

* * *

Soft and warm early rays of the sun crept into the suite through the open curtains. Sound of human life was low, but chirping of morning birds echoed throughout the open window.

The quietness was finally disturbed by the sharp ringing of the alarm clock on the bed stand.

Mara, who was fully exhausted from previous night's activities, didn't acknowledge the ear-aching noise and continued to sleep in the same knocked out position. However, Jerome groggily woke up from the comfy crook of Mara's neck and bent forward to switch the clock off and dived straight back down to his pillow. After a few seconds of silence and realization he sprang right back up, turning his head towards the time "Bloody amazing" he sighed.

Still laying down on the bed, he whispered "Mara? Mara, we need to get ready." he shook Mara softly by her shoulders. In reply, she simply tucked her head deeper in the cosy and snug duvet, ignoring him completely.

With a roll of his blue eyes, he forced himself to stand up and grabbed the ends of the duvet and pulled it off the sleeping Mara, "Jerome, nooo." she winged, covering herself from the chilly air.

A laugh tumbled out of Jerome, "Mara, _yeess_." he mimicked, slightly amused at his wife's reaction. "We'll be late if we don't hurry up. Our plane's going to take off at ten, it's already eight thirty," explained Jerome, covering his wife with a lilac dressing gown.

With all her strength she eventually pulled herself up and faced Jerome, "I'm too tired." yawned Mara, her dark taupe hair in a wild mess. She squinted her eyes at the sunlight, "I can still hear the jazz and cocktails." she mumbled. "Oh and remember when we danced cheek to cheek?"

Another laugh came out of Jerome, picking up a towel, "I really do wonder why you're in such a state, Little Doll."

Now it was Mara's turn to roll her eyes, she stumbled towards Jerome on her wobbly legs and frowned at him "You know why. Plus it's your fault." she remarked, adorable (well in Jerome's eyes).

"You're right. I put my hands up, it's all down to me for making you sound this loopy," he laughed again. He leaned down towards Mara and gently kissed the corner of her soft lips "But you loved it though."

A shade of red painted her cheeks, remembering everything clearly from last night "We should get ready" she breathed softly from his fingers which were running down her back.

"So do you want to have a shower first or shall I?" he asked, changing the topic.

Mara, off-guard from all the beautiful and loving memories, nodded shyly as a natural response because really she felt comfortable and like herself with Jerome, there was no actual reason for her shyness.

Jerome moved to the hotels telephone and mouthed 'I'll call for room service, the normal breakfast right?" he asked.

"Yes please. Just porridge oats and blueberry yoghurt for the side. Thanks." Mara replied with courtesy.

She walked towards the bathroom and looked at herself in the glass mirror. Her dressing gown was tightly wrapped around her and her wavy hair was everywhere. She smiled at her reflection, loving the new chapter of her life. Marriage. And that too marriage with Jerome, he was a sweetheart around, as if any signs of alpha male gone, instead replaced with a Shakespearian character (hopefully one with a better ending). Happily, she sang lightly as she stepped into the glass shower and the cool water dripped down her body.

* * *

"Here, can you pass me that bag?" asked Jerome, stacking the suitcase on top of the luggage compartment. Mara handed the navy hand bag to Jerome, before settling down in the window seat - to get a better view outside of the new and different sceneries.

They sat silently, just feeling each others comforting presence.

"Jerome, do you think we possibly rushed the marriage?" Mara asked, shoulder against his side.

He replied "Rushed? No. Why think that?" Jerome tucked a strand of Mara's hair behind her ear and continued talking, "From the first moment I saw you, I knew you were the one for me."

"Aw, how cliché of you." laughed Mara, "See Jerome, I told you relationships can be cliche, but you'd never recite that Sonnet for me."

He smiled "I'll start reading out all-sorts of poems on one knee and feed you chocolate dipped strawberries with my own hands. How's that?"

Happily, she nodded her head "That'll be perfect. But I was serious, now I think about it we did kind of rushed through it. It would have been nice if we had postpone the wedding for your family to come. "

Jerome sighed "You heard the phone call, didn't you?" She nodded. "Mara, our wedding was everything we could have wished for. I know you think I'm upset that my family didn't visit, but I'm not at all fazed by it and you shouldn't be too. It was their choice, so please drop it."

"Okay, fine. But don't you think it's slightly odd that we're going to visit them now...?" she asked lightly.

"It's my home too, I don't think I need an invitation from them to allow me to stay there and lucky for you we're only staying there for a couple of days."

Mara looked down to her wedding ring and twisted it around thoughtfully "I didn't mean it like, I'm sorry."

Jerome closed his eyes "I know. I shouldn't have snapped at you, especially when you're right. I am hurt that they didn't bother to show up. Apparently my mum doesn't even know anything about it because my dad was too worried about what her reaction will be when she'll learn that I've got married."

"Oh."

It was all she could say. Her own mother-in-law didn't even know who she was and there was a strong possibility that she wouldn't like her too.

* * *

As the newly wed couple walked out of the airport, Jerome pushed the luggage trolley towards the black London taxi which was waiting for them, in the cold, damp and typical 'British weather.

"To Berkshire, mate," Jerome said to the driver.

The taxi ride was only an hour long and they quickly arrived at the Clarke Manor House.

It was an antiquated, but a massive brick building which was still strongly standing grandly, from the continuous care of the holder. It was a single house in a green field, which was thoroughly surrounded by dark forest trees and a shallow stream which was flowing on the right side of the pasture. Just by one look, you could have easily guessed how highly affluent the owners were of the house.

There were at least fifty different crystal large windows and the door was a great British Elm carved artwork. It was one of those homes you would often see the pictures and movies in black and white; which held large and extended families who would dance and drink all night in their pearls and shiny, smart shoes: the flappers who would entertain the guests of the loud parties and the interesting talks about the war and the work on woman rights.

Mara could only have dreamed what the scenery could possibly look like at sunset; the sun's precious yellow and orange rays reflecting onto the fertile and fresh crops and onto the brown earthy soil of life. The history of the manor house was something which intrigued Mara: due to her hobby on investigating (or being nosy some would say, but Mara would cover it up, by saying it's simply her journalism self wanting to know the truth) and her logical reasoning which she used for almost everything - those novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on, Sherlock Holmes had kept young Mara awake for countless hours and even after curfew. Moreover, Mara being the only child of two busy parents had it's downs and ups: she thrives off adventures about the past, ancient writing, the supernatural and crime because of her nanny's late night stories, but obviously Mara never minded it. Therefore, naturally Mara loved everything she was seeing.

"My goodness, this was where little Jerome lived?" asked Mara, amazed and shell-shocked by the strong and dark looking house.

"Yes. And 'little Jerome' hated it," replied Jerome, eyes peering at his childhood home, uncomfortably.

"How could you hate such a place?"

"I had to follow rules, it was always cold even during summer, I only had one friend and the most important reason why I hated it, is right there." he pointed in front of them.

"Jerome, behave!" tutted Mara, while fixing her hair and pressing down her skirt.

A tall looking woman, with no doubt a high-class status, strolled elegantly down the pathway towards them, with her high heels clicking every time it came into contact with the ground. Her ash blonde hair in a classy updo and dressed in a clean cream, fitted dress. "Oh, my son, look how handsome you've become," she greeted her son with a quick hug.

Jerome simply nodded in respect, "Mum, this is my wife, Mar-."

His mother interrupted Jerome and stood in front of Mara, facial expression stern and an eyebrow arched, "Wife?"

Wrapping an arm around Mara, Jerome introduced them both to each other, "Mum, this is Mara. Wife, this is Agatha." Mara tried her best to greet Agatha, but she was being blocked out rudely.

Agatha let out a loud sigh, "What do you mean this is your wife?" her manicured fingertips were tapping the side of her hip, annoyed and surprised at the new news.

Instead of replying to his mother, Jerome simply ignored her and lead Mara towards the Manor House to meet the rest of his family.

"Jerome! You do not walk off like that, come back here right now" Agatha yelled across the ground, feeling ticked off about her son being married to an average girl who she saw no worthy in to be married in her family's name.

A small girl appeared out of nowhere. She was the similar height as Mara and she happily skipped towards Jerome with her arms wide open, "Yay, you're finally here!" she laughed.

"Poppy, how much I hate to admit it, but I kind of missed you." he hugged her tightly with a large grin playing on his face.

They finally let go of each other and Poppy beamed at Mara, "Oh my God, is this her?" she asked, in hope that she was right. He nodded, with a smile tugging at his lips. She attacked Mara in a similar hug and nearly toppled her over, "I've heard so much about you. I can't believe my brother is with such an amazing woman as you. He's _way_ out of your league."

Mara giggled, glad to have finally of met Jerome's little sister. "Hmm, I'm not so sure. Your brother is kind of amazing himself." They hugged once more, sharing another laugh. "He's told me so much about you, Poppy. I'm just really happy that I've got to see a face to the name."

A sharp cough came out of Jerome, "Not wanting to interrupt this, 'sister-in-law bond', but I want Mara to see everyone else as well, that too before the night falls."

"Of course! Father has gone to a business trip, he'll be back in two days and grandpa and grandma are in the courtyard." Poppy explained as she guided them further into the house.

Golden frames of large portraits hanged onto the wall, each painting was a masterpiece. The different textures from the style of the paintbrush and the royal and deep colours which were used was screaming out talent. Metal ornaments decorated the house, still carrying the gold colour theme. The idea of Jerome hating that very house was out of Mara's reasoning and understanding.

Sounds of chatter became louder and louder. A wooden porch swing was occupied by two elderly people who were in a deep conversation.

"Look who's finally made a visit!" Poppy beamed, jumping on the spot in glee.

The old-looking woman stood up, a shaky hand grasped her mouth in shock "My baby is finally home" Tears were blooming in her faded blue eyes. "Come here, my little snuggums, you're all grown up now," she embraced him in a long hug.

She let get of Jerome slowly and walked up to Mara, "Is this the lucky girl you've been babbling on about over the phone, the one that's got you so in love?"

"Nice try, Grandma. I know you're trying to make me blush, but It's okay. I admit it, I'm a love-sick man for Mara." Jerome replied, leaving a quick kiss on his wife's cheek. She blushed prettily.

"And, chief. Not going to say hello?" asked Jerome, to the older looking man.

The man got up, with a large smile on his face "My boy! Took your time coming back to visit us old folks, eh?" He said in a jocular way, while gave Jerome a big hug, with two pats on the back.

"I've missed all of you's so much," Jerome said merrily. He turned to face Mara. "Mara, this is, Richard and Martha Clarke, my brilliant grandparents."

"It's an honour meeting you two, Jerome has been speaking very fondly of you's," Mara replied.

Richard replied "I'm very happy about meeting you too Mara." He faced Jerome and smiled "You've picked good."

"I know." grinned Jerome.

"Now, now. My poor girl must be tired from the journey. Jerome, take her to her room and let her settle down. I want a long, nice chat with Mara." Martha declared, holding Mara's hand in content.

* * *

Jerome took Mara to his old bedroom. It had changed, apart from the same furniture. The walls were tightly pasted with a cream wallpaper which was beautifully decorated with swirls of patterns. It smelt of strong, bitter lemon, from the chemicals in cleaning products to keep the room spotless.

Lazily, Jerome fell onto the bed in relief and tiredness "They all love you. Even Gramps was all over you and he's a hard one to please."

Carefully, Mara placed her heels down on the marble floor, her feet finally free "They're all really sweet." she smiled, sitting next to her husband, whose eyes were already shut.

"And maybe later, your mother will realise I'm not _that_ bad as she thinks I am," Mara suggests, quietly.

Jerome lets out a snort, "Who actually cares about my mum's judgement...nobody."

Mara slid down on her back and rested her head on Jerome's shoulder, "I care. I want her to truly be proud of us." tracing circles on his chest, absent-mindedly.

A quiet sigh came out of Jerome, "I know what you're like, Mara. You won't stop trying until she accepts you, but trust me on this, her acceptance is nothing for me. I love you no matter what."

Silence started to grow in the room until Jerome broke it, "How about tomorrow, I'll give you the complete whole tour of this place. I can easily tell how much you like this house from when we were outside. Heck, I'll even introduce you to the neighbours." He added, holding Mara tightly in his arms.

She smiled sleepily "I'll like that a lot." As her eyes closed shut, she found herself speaking absentmindedly "I love you." as they both slept away.

* * *

**This was a long chapter and the following chapters will also be pretty lengthy.**

**Not wanting to spoil the plot of this story, but it involves around crime, the past, romance, betrayal and so much more! It's going to be slightly confusing at first, but it'll quickly settle down. **

**Thank you for reading. Remember to review, it helps me out a lot. :)**

**x**


	2. The forbidden room

Tossing and turning all night long in the new environment, Mara silently tip-toed out of the bedroom. She yawned since she didn't get a wink of sleep, but she didn't mind. From the distance, she saw a flicker of a gleaming light bulb. Carefully, she walked to the courtyard where Martha was sorting the large mahogany dining table with white china plates.

"Good morning Martha." Mara greeted.

Martha was startled at first, but turned around with a smile, "Nearly gave me a fright there dear. I didn't hear you coming, but good morning nonetheless."

"Do you need any help with setting the dining table?" Mara asked, eyeing the silver cutlery which still needed to be placed down.

Kindly, Martha shook her head, "You're our special guest, I can't possibly make you do work."

"I believe I'm more than a guest, more like family. So please let me help." Mara replied, smiling as she scooped a handful of knives, forks and spoons.

They both worked together laying out the table; organising a china plate for each seat on the table: crisp, clean glasses for the sweet, home-made orange juice and a napkin for caution.

"This will be my first time having breakfast in such a grand manner," Mara said, astonished with the layout of the dining table. She couldn't believe the Clarke's ate in such an affluent way because Jerome had always been a laid-back and lazy person, but she soon realised where he got his massive ego from.

Mara looked over the table in amazement, but paused when she saw an extra plate "Is there anyone else living here?"

Martha paused and took several seconds to reply, "Uh, no of course not...Helen must have counted the plates wrong. She's our new maid therefore mistakes are bound to be made." She took another pause, clarifying everything she just said, "Now since you are part of the family, you don't mind waking up your hubby and his sister of his? And I'll go and help Helen with the preparation of the food." Martha asked.

Mara quickly nodded, "Of course, it's the least I can do." and set off back to her room.

Before waking up Jerome, Mara decided to get dressed first and let him sleep for a bit longer. She wore her mustard colour dress with black small heels and her hair tied up in a loose bun: she wanted to look smart enough to impress her mother-in-law.

"Jerome, its time to wake up," sang Mara, roles in reverse. When Jerome gave no notice, she added "Breakfast is nearly cooked."

In no time, he quickly sat up against the bed frame."Breakfast?" he questioned, eyes adjusting to the light. Mara simply nodded. "Of course it's ready. Look at you. You look delicious enough to eat." he smirked, arms resting behind his head and his hair flopped over his forehead.

Opening their wash bag she took out the toiletries which belonged to Jerome, "Please none of your flirtatious jokes here. I still need to wake up Poppy and you need to freshen up." Mara stopped for one second and looked up in slight confusion "Why do you always make it food related?"

"Actually they're not always food related. You just have forgotten half of them because you tend to be busier on blushing."

Mara stared at him with a straight face, no amusement flickering at all.

"Alright, alright. I'll go and get ready ma'am." Jerome stood up and gave a quick peck on her cheek while he walked to the fitted bathroom.

* * *

Wandering around the large house, Mara knew she should have asked for directions or even a map before she had set off to Poppy's room. She had found herself creeping along a steep corridor and unlike the rest of the rooms, that particular whole floor smelt of old dampness and dust. She carried on walking until she came to a door.

The door was large. It had two carved handles which were covered in grey cobwebs. However, the thing which filled Mara in curiosity was the red thread wrapped around the handles with a silver cross on the end. Mara was beyond puzzled. Why was this section of the house crossed off from the rest?

Without any second thoughts, Mara looked around her and lifted up the end of her dress to the handles and cleared the cobwebs away. She coughed in repulse of the dirty and dusty dress she now had. She took a deep breath and proceeded to untangle the knotted thread. Next, with no hesitation she turned both handles and pushed the door wide open. A squawk of raven echoed from the room and Mara shielded herself with her arms as the bird flew in the opposite direction. Ravens. They were once seen as shape-shifters or even tricksters from olden tribes, but always a bad omen for death.

Shocked at Poppy's sudden appearance, Mara asked 'Are you okay Poppy? You look pale all of a sudden."

"This corridor is out of bound. No one is ever allowed to come up here," she explained.

Mara shrugged "Why not?"

"Didn't Jerome tell you about this?"

Mara shook her head, waiting for what bizarre reason was the corridor unoccupied.

"Apparently, that whole floor, which this door is hiding, and it's rooms are dangerously haunted." Mara nodded for her to continue, "I remember granddad saying about how my, great granddad had ordered for the local priest to come and seal this place off with a prayer...like a ritual."

After 3 long seconds of silence, to let the story sink in, Mara let out a laugh "Poppy, you're not telling me you believe in ghosts?"

"Of course I do."

"It's the 21st century, everything comes with a logical and rational explanation. All of this is medieval." And with that, Mara successfully pushed open the entrance to the floor.

A foul stench flooded towards them. There were no rooms, but yet again, another door, further ahead. Mara crept into the small, empty space and pushed the next door open too.

"Mara, please! It's true." Poppy cried out.

The door stood still as it was, "It's locked." Mara sighed, looking around her for anything useful.

Poppy muttered a quiet 'Thank God' and it bounced off the walls, "Poppy, please don't worry yourself, nothing is going to open. Just because it smells disgusting and everything is completely covered with dust doesn't mean there's an evil ghost lurking around."

"Don't say that, you never know what will happen. We can get in so much trouble because of this!" wailed Poppy, wrapping her arms around herself.

Mara ignored her and examined the two portraits. One was a painting of a man. He was smartly dressed in a silk green clothes and a gold headwear. His facial expression was stern and serious. While the other painting was of a decorated and decked up woman. She was also in similar clothing: dressed in silk, but orange. Large and heavy, gold earrings and necklace embraced her face. She was beautiful. Her smile delicate, but her eyes empty.

"Who is she?" whispered, Mara.

Slowly, Poppy walked to the portrait of the woman, "That's her. It's her spirit. She was a classical dancer, Meredith."

"I don't understand, why would she haunt this room?"

Quickly, Poppy looked over her shoulders, "Granddad said she's never going to leave until she takes her revenge on him." pointing to the other portrait of the man.

A loud shout from downstairs interrupted Mara's thoughts on all the possibilities why she wanted revenge, "Poppy! Mara! Where are you both?"

Poppy jumped in shock and panic but sighed deeply in relief when she realised it was simply her older brother. She tugged Mara away from the room all the way down on the ground floor, where Jerome was waiting for them.

"Poppy, it looks like you just saw a ghost." he joked.

Poppy whipped her head towards Mara, her eyes wide open "I told you that you shouldn't have opened that door!"

Jerome scrunched his eyebrows, "What door?"

In the opposite mood, Mara's eyes lit up, "There's this door upstairs on the third floor and it's all closed off by this locked door and Poppy told me that it's apparently haunted. Why did you never told me this all before?" she moaned.

Jerome chuckled, "Ah, yes. Even as kids, we weren't allowed to be up there. Is it still shut off?"

Poppy nodded, still in slight shock.

He rolled his eyes, "Is this family still superstitious?" sliding his hand in his grey blazer to check his ringing phone. He raised his other hand and pointed one finger in the air and mouthed 'Its dad."

After the quick conversation, Jerome sighed "He just called me to ask if I can pick him up. His deal had finished early and the company's car is late."

"You should set off now, you don't want him waiting." replied Mara.

Jerome nodded, "Hm, I guess, but I don't want to leave you here on your own." He turned around to face Poppy, "Look after her. I don't want mum causing any problems."

"Fine. But we're not going back upstairs. We can go visit Nina." Poppy suggested, dragging her hand through her blonde hair.

Jerome kissed Mara goodbye and headed off outside.

* * *

Mara followed Poppy up a steep hill. They walked for 10 minutes until a small, regular house was in sight.

A tall woman, with olive skin and long, curvy dark blonde hair was laying outside on a red and white checked blanket. She was comfortably dressed in a nude colour shirt, with a light blue denim skirt. In her hands, she was holding a paperback book.

"Nina, you're looking good." commented Poppy, sitting beside her.

Mara stood there awkwardly, debating if she should sit down too, or if that was too informal for a stranger.

"Oh yeah, Nina meet Mara. She's my sister-in-law," declared Poppy, proudly.

"Hi Mara." Nina greeted, shaking Mara's hand.

"Hey, nice accent, American yes?"

Nina laughed, "Yep, been living here for two years, but still got my accent. Born and raised in the states. But since I met Fabian, we decided to settle in his hometown."

"Fabian... I think I've heard about him, from Jerome."

Poppy added "Yeah, Fabian and Jerome grew up together. They're old friends."

"So when did you met, Jerome?" asked Nina, sitting up and patting the space beside her, for Mara to sit.

Mara settled down on the soft blanket and answered, "We met each other in school. At first, I always believed he was just a silly guy, but luckily I realised there was actually more to him than his pranks."

"That's so adorable. I actually remember a story what, Fabian had told me before. Apparently, he and Jerome were supposed to be playing hide 'n seek, but Jerome had left him hiding for THREE hours! I laughed my head off when he told that." Nina giggled while she reminded herself the first she heard the story.

Mara lets out a laugh, "Oh, poor Fabian. Bless him, Jerome used to be so full of mischief and you know what? He sometimes still is."

* * *

Nina and Mara had spent over an hour together in the living room, laying back on the puffy pillows. Nina had brought out an old photo album of Fabian's childhood, which also included snaps of Jerome too.

"I'm guessing, Fabian has also changed from a kid?" asked Mara while taking a small sip from her teacup.

Nina smiled to herself, "He always told me that he was a shy kid and he's still quite quiet now, but for me, he's just right." tracing Fabian's face on the photo.

"That's really sweet to hear, Nina." settling her teacup on the table, "So, what do you and Fabian do?"

"My Fabian has done a degree in phycology. He's a psychiatrist. And I'm more of his beautiful sidekick, as he continues to tell me."

"A beautiful couple," Mara noted.

"You're too kind. What about you two?

"Well, Jerome does work with his father, but he wants to have his own thing now, like something which he's achieved by himself." she replied, feeling proud of her husband's ambitions.

"And yourself?"

"Right now, I've got nothing. I used to work for this magazine as an editor, but I had to quit it, which I really regret know," she sighed.

"What made you regret it?" Nina asked.

"I've got this different story, a case, an article to write about. It's something totally new to me and which intrigues me," explained, Mara.

"Oh yeah? What's this story about then?"

"That's the problem...I only know half of the story."

Nina lets out a sigh of annoyance, "You're going to kill me with suspense with your talking around the corners. Tell me, tell me, please."

"Today, I was searching for, Poppy, but I ended up on this empty and deserted floor in the manor house. There was nothing there and no maintenance at all while everywhere else is so well looked after! And I opened the door to see more, but there was another door locked, so I can't get in any further."

Nina arched her eyebrows, "And this is intriguing you, how?"

Mara took a deep breath and explained, "Poppy told me that no one has _ever_ stepped a foot in there because apparently it's haunted. Her great granddad even ordered a religious ritual to be performed for their own safety."

Slowly, Nina closed her eyes and shook her head in disbelief, "Oh my...God." This time, she took a long and deep breath, soaking in everything which Mara had just told her, "Do take me with you tomorrow to show me the room, I'm so into these type of things. Fabian says it's just the brain cheating you with its mind tricks and games, but I've always been a believe in these things."

Mara, grinned "Really? Do you want to see it? Good because Poppy is terrified speechless from that door and I don't want her to get scared again. And Jerome isn't really bothered about stuff like this."

"Mara, we need to head back home!" Poppy shouted from the outside porch.

* * *

Agatha paced up and down the room, with everyone standing silently. "What do you all not understand? Is everyone in this house deaf to even comprehend what I'm saying? No one and that means not single soul is allowed up there!"

Poppy and Mara quietly walked inside the house, heads down because they knew exactly why she was angry.

"YOU! You opened the door, didn't you?" pointed Agatha. "I knew it from the moment I had the unfortunate pleasure to lay my eyes down onto you you're here to cause trouble for my family."

The only thing Mara did was look down guiltily, she didn't wish to cause grief for her new family and she knew she shouldn't have overused her stay by snooping around upstairs. She really wanted to say something, to say sorry, however she was afraid that she'd simply be confronted by more shouting and Mara definitely didn't want that to happen.

As Agatha took a few deep breaths and readjusted her hair "You dare to disobey me and go back to that room, well then you're going to be spending your time wishing you hadn't," and with that she stormed off muttering incoherent statements on how everything was going to go downhill.

The next few seconds were awkward, to say the least. One by one, each family member silently exited the room and left Mara on her own to feast on her ashamed and distressed conscious.

She quickly snapped out of her thoughts when she heard her name, "Mara?" Jerome called out from the door with his father.

Shyly, Mara turned around to face him and hoping he didn't hear anything, who then realised he wasn't on his own, "Oh, hey Jerome...evening sir..."

"Mara. Hello, all throughout the journey coming here Jerome's been complimenting you all the way. It's very to nice to meet you and please call me John." he nodded in respect and also made his way through the room.

_Am I that difficult for people not wanting to stay with me that they have to rush elsewhere? _She thought.

When Mara was sure he had left, she asked slowly "Did you hear-"

"Yes." Jerome sighed.

Mara let out a groan and stroked her forehead in annoyance, "I keep making things worse, aren't I?" she mumbled, feeling her throat getting tight.

Jerome stepped forward and shook his head, "It's not your fault. Unfortunately, my mum always has to be her horrible self around everyone, she even snaps at dad sometimes." he explained, trying to keep it light.

Mara bit her lip as she pressed her head against his chest, fed up with herself, and she murmured "She hates me even more."

"Sshh," Jerome whispered while rubbing her back. He gripped her shoulders and led her to their room as he asked her how she spent her day.

Sighing, Mara replied with "I met Nina." her voice was borderline tired and glum.

Jerome simply nodded, "So how was she?" he asked, keeping her talking and not wanting her to start thinking about her mother and how she'd upset her because in all honestly, Jerome couldn't give a penny for his mother's thought about what 'offensive' and 'manner-less' act Mara had committed.

Not bothering to give a full and lengthy reply to Jerome's question, Mara had decided to just reply with "She was okay." As they entered the room, Mara slumped down on the bed, no strength or energy to sit up straight.

He noticed her floppy posture and realised how she was still hurt, he continued asking her questions though "Did you talk about anything interesting?" Jerome asked, hoping for more of an elaborated answer. As Mara thought about her day and wondered if there was even anything actually merely intriguing which happened, Jerome began unpacking their suitcase to pick out a night dress for Mara. He walked towards the bed and sat behind her and when he realised she wasn't going to get ready on her own, he gently took the small matter of his hands. Slowly, he unzipped the back of her dress and pulled it up off of her.

"We talked about you and Fabian," she eventually answered in a monotone. She leaned her back towards him as she became agitated from all the pointless questions. "Jerome," she sighed, "Are you going to ask me questions all night?"

He rose his eyebrows, feeling a tad pleased that he'd finally got her to say something more, "Okay, okay. Last one, I promise. What did you exactly discuss about when you talked about me?"

Carefully he unclasped the straps of her bra and slid it down her arms, then brought down the dress over her body. "There. Done," he smiled.

"We talked about how you'd cause mischief everywhere you went." she replied, referring back to Nina's story where Jerome left Fabian on his own for three hours.

Jerome laughed "Don't lie, you know you love me for it," he shook off his jacket and finally sat comfortably on the edge of the bed, with his phone in one hand.

"Hmm, if you say so," Mara replied as she laid down on the bed, nearly forgetting what had been troubling her just a few mere moments ago "We also talked about that door. We decided to visit it again tomorrow."

Jerome loosened his tie with his other hand and flopped down beside her "So you're not going to stop investigating?" already knowing the answer.

"Oh, you don't mind. Do you?" she asked, worried that she was doing something against his will.

He shook his head "It's your home too. I don't mind."

"There's just one problem, the second door needs a key." Mara sighed, turning on her side to face Jerome.

Jerome chuckled, "Knowing you I know you'll find a way."

A small yawn escaped from Mara "I can't wait for tomorrow."

He switched off the bed lamp and whispered "Sleep Mara."

* * *

In the dead of the night, a quick but a visible shadow sprinted across the hallway, shimmering in the little light which was radiating from the candle behind the glass patio. A quick and bright orb of white light reflected on the frames of the portraits in the small room, with the locked door shaking bit by bit, unleashing uncomfortable noises of whispers and hisses.

Doom was to be fallen on the house very soon.

It was just the unfortunate beginning with soon to be a tragic ending.

* * *

**In the next chapter, I'm going to introduce Fabian. And that's when more of the horror and thriller stuff will happen too. **

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter. **


	3. It gets no better, but bitter

Lazily, Fabian rolled over to his side,"Nina?" he yawned, as he patted the side next to him, trying to find her.

CLANK! A clatter of scraps of glass and metal tumbled out of a tin box, "Oops...sorry Fabian..." After, regaining her normal position from the shock of the screeching noise, she explained to, Fabian on how she was planning to take snaps of the supposedly haunted room in their friend's home.

"Do you have to go now?" moaned, Fabian. He stood up, while stretching his arms wide in the air, "It'll just be a waste of time going there."

Nina rolled her eyes, "You're no fun." sticking her tongue out, playfully.

Carefully, Nina placed her camera into her beige bag, "I'm heading off now, I've left you some croissants and tea on the table." she pecked his cheek and skipped her way out of the door.

A quiet laugh of amusement came out of Fabian as he stepped into the bathroom.

* * *

"Today, I'm going to visit my dear friend's house. She's going to hold the next kitty party. When I come back, I don't want no mess." Agatha commanded. She was staring right at Mara, when she said it.

Mara smiled, "Don't worry, everything here will be fine. You just have a good time at the kitty party."

Sternly, Agatha walked right past, Mara, not paying a single attention to what she had said.

Nina, who had heard the whole conversation, waited patiently at the door and greeted, Agatha, as she ordered the chauffeur to drive the white car towards the front.

"Morning Nina." said, Mara.

Slowly, Nina asked "Are you sure we should really be doing this?" she stepped inside the house and explained, "I would hate to get you into trouble."

"I don't see no harm, we're just merely investigating the room...Jerome, what do you think?" Mara asked.

Folding his newspaper, Jerome got up from his chair, "You two can investigate all you want, I still doubt there's anything frightening up there...unless you both are scared of spiders."

Nina, laughed, "You're just like, Fabian. He told me that going up there is going to be a waste of time."

"Men are so alike. Come on, Nina. The stairs to that room are over there." pointed Mara.

As both women started to walk towards the grand staircase, Jerome caught hands with Mara and pulled her back into his chest. "Are you sure you want to spend your time in a stuffy room?"

Mara rolled her eyes "Jerome, you know I love these type of stuff."

Gently, Jerome stroked Mara's arm, "Yes, but I also know you love spending time with me more." he whispered into her ear.

She bit her lower lip, aware of the typical smirk on his face, "Do you like spending you time with me?."

Jerome let out a snort, "If there was a limit of enjoying one's company, they'll try to take me away."

"Hmm, interesting. Then you wouldn't mind joining, Nina and I upstairs?"

He let out a laugh of astonishment, "Very clever Mara."

Mara, laughed as she tugged his arm forward, "Well you can't say no now because otherwise I'll know you were lying to me."

Teasingly, Jerome smacked Mara's behind "You're getting sassier, aren't you?" but nonetheless, allowed her to pull him forward.

Mara, squealed, "Jerome!"

"I love hearing you squeal, it makes me think that maybe I should just take you into our room and simply fuc-"

"Come on you, guys! Are we getting up there today or not?" shouted, Nina from across the hall.

Jerome groaned in annoyance and trudged behind the eager Mara.

* * *

Nina looked everywhere in amazement, "Jerome, have you ever been inside this room?"

She took out her camera from her bag and focused it on the large door, "No. It's always been locked up..." replied Jerome.

He followed Mara towards the two portraits, "Frank Wallace, a rich merchant and Meredith, a classical dancer."

Mara frowned "A classical dancer?"

Jerome pushed his hand through his hair "That's all I know about them, sorry. I was never that interested about them two."

Nina knelt, held out her hair grip and stuck it into the keyhole; twisting and turning it around for it to unlock. She stood with a sigh with no luck, "Do you have a key for this lock?" she asked in hope.

"I'm sure that mum does, but she'll notice it being missing and will make a whole scene about it." Jerome explained.

Nina thought for a second, "We can easily send it to the local blacksmith and make a replica of it and then replace the original one back, before anyone else noticing."

Thoughtfully, Jerome nodded. He pushed his hands into his trouser pockets, staring around the room, feeling uncomfortable, "I think I remember coming up here, with one of my cousins...expect there was no lock or chains then."

"No lock? So the door must have been definitely unlocked." Mara said.

He looked around the abandoned room and then hooked his eyes onto, Mara, "I think it's time for us to go."

* * *

Finally, Nina arrived at her home, after making a long visit to the blacksmith's home to give him the key for him to copy.

Fabian felt two light arms wrapping around his neck, from behind, "Someone's in a happy mood."

Nina giggled, "Oh, I can't wait for tomorrow. I told, Jack to call me when he's done with my order and he said he'll do it straight away, just because I'm his favourite girl.

"Jack? Why did you visit him? Fabian asked, ignoring her when she said 'I'm his favourite girl', knowing she's simply messing with me.

"I asked him to make a copy of a key for that door I was talking about earlier." she stated, opening the kitchen door.

Fabian sighed, helping her to tie the apron, "I would love to get inside of your mind to see your fascination with that room."

Holding the steel pot, she placed it on top of the stove and switched on the gas, "I think it reminds when we first met."

Fabian's dark eyebrows rose up in confusion, "Haunted rooms and keys for locked things reminds you of us?"

A laugh danced out of Nina, "No, silly. We met during our first case together and we fell in love while investigating."

He pressed his soft lips to her smooth, soft skin, "How could I possibly forget?"

Nina laughed again, "Like I would ever let you forget that! Now go, otherwise you'll keep me away from making dinner."

* * *

Jerome had sat near the coffee table for two whole hours. Thoughts and memories of his childhood were running all over his mind. Something about being up in that room had triggered a switch in his brain and now he couldn't stop thinking about the time he was up there, as a child with his cousin. He carried on thinking, _Who is she? Why can't I remember her name?._

Moving pictures of the nameless girl and him laughing, skipping along the hall kept replaying in his mind. _  
_

_"Let's play a game, Jerome!" The girl twirled around in her floral dress and her hair in pigtails._

_Jerome, shook his head, "I'm a big boy now, I don't play girl games." he said cockily, holding a plastic gun._

_Quietly and slowly, she crept behind Jerome and snatched his toy gun, and ran away, while teasing him. "You're not a big boy now because I just stole your stupid gun." she blew a raspberry right at his face._

_He winged, "Give it back!"_

_The small girl laughed, "Only if you play with me."_

_Jerome, who only got more angry shouted, "I'm not going to play with a silly girl!" He sulked off, heading to his room._

_"Please, I promise we won't play a girly game."_

_He stopped walking, "Hide and seek or I'm going." Jerome declared._

_"1...2...3...4..." the girl sang._

_Jerome raced to his grandma's room and hid under the bed, he laid down silently and listened to the girl's footsteps. _

_Small taps from the girl's leather shoes skipped along the staircase, "Jerooome, ready or not, here I come." she laughed. _

_Jerome, snickered at the foolish girl who had ignored to check the rooms first. He decided to follow her and then jump in front of her to scare her._

_The rotten smell caught the unlucky and unfortunate girl's attention. How little did she knew that she should have took no notice of it. Her small, nimble and delicate fingers traced the bumpy wall, until she came across a door. A cold shiver crept down her back. _

_Curiosity mixed with a child's innocence made her continue walking through the door, just to find another, but larger and dusty, door waiting for her. Something made her look back, but there was nothing there. Any thoughts of finding, Jerome had vanished. She took her hand and twisted the door knob and pushed the door wide open. Regret. Total regret, total repentance. _

_A sickening to the gut scream, screeched out of the room. Jerome, sprinted through the doors to find the girl on her knees screaming, yelping and crying for help. Droplets of sweat dripped from her forehead. Breathing in fast and quick pants. Shaking and shaking out of fear. Her lips, drained out of colour, trembling in terror._

_He stood still. His mind and common sense blocked out by her screams. The adults of the house came running through. He heard comments flying through, "What happened?", "We are all here, don't cry.", "No one should be up, what were you thinking?", "Everything is fine.", but Jerome knew. He knew that nothing was fine. _

_One of the adults dragged her out of the room, down the stairs with the little girl kicking her legs for dear life, "LEAVE ME ALONE!" she screamed. _

_"Jerome?" _

_"Jerome?" _

"Jerome!" Mara spoke.

He woke up from his dark memory with a start and mumbled, "What's wrong?"

"I was calling out your name several times, but you were just gazing in daydream."

Jerome finally realised what had just happened, "oh, I was thinking. Nothing really." he smiled, as if nothing bizarre had happened to him.

Mara slightly frowned, "Are you sure you're okay?" she touched his forehead, comforting him.

He forced a smile again, "Of course I am. Isn't dinner ready yet?"

Slowly, Mara nodded.

Jerome sat opposite, Mara. He wanted some distance. He needed space to think. From that day, he never met that girl again. Hai...Hailey? Yes, Hailey. They were cousins, but what happened to her? How come he didn't ever talk again from that day?

He ate a few strands of the chicken, drank three sips of the bubbly drink, but his appetite was truly lost. He cleared his throat and finally asked, "Where's Hailey?".

Agatha coughed on her drink. Martha's face turned pale and Richard gripped his hand on her shoulder.

"Jerome? What's this about?" asked John, Jerome's father.

Jerome picked up his glass and raised it towards his mouth, taking a long sip, "Why do you all look so shocked? You all remember, Hailey, don't you?"

Poppy frowned, "Hailey? Who's that?"

"Our cousin," he unbuttoned the cuff links on his shirt and rolled his sleeves up. "Where is she now?"

The short silence had turned out to be a long and painful silence, eyes peering at each other, mentally asking each other what to say.

"Why are you all not saying anything?" he let out a deep sigh and rubbed his eyes, "She lived with us, she was family. How can you lot not know where she is now!" he shouted, quite fed up with all charade his family was acting.

"Mum, you've been quiet over a minute now, I know how much you love to talk." Jerome pointed out.

Agatha took a deep breath and sat up straight, "Jerome, anything concerning Hailey, has nothing to do with you."

"Why not? Obviously, if you had to say such a thing, there's something going on."

Mara looked back and forth, from Jerome to his mother, who was now arguing. She didn't have any clue about what was going on. She walked to other side of the dining table and tried to calm down Jerome, but he took no notice of her. "Mara, please. They're hiding something away from me, about my own cousin."

"No we are not!" Agatha barked back, who was now standing and her hands flat on the table.

Richard shook his head, "Son, he deserves to know."

John nodded, "Agatha, just stop it. It's gone too far."

"He'll make a mess of it like he always does! He'll never understand. He's just a stupid boy!" Agatha shouted.

His eyes turned into a darker shade of blue, throughout his whole life he had never received a mother's love and Jerome at that moment truly wished for their relation to have been over. She made him disgusted that a mother would even dare to speak such rubbish about their own kin. "You can curse me, you can even raise you hand on me, but don't you ever waste your time to think that after this I'll ever give you any respect. You're not worth my time."

"Jerome! You will not talk to your own mother like that!" John ordered.

Jerome wanted to laugh at their faces, their double standards were hysterical.

Martha shook her head in disbelief on what was going on, "Don't say such nonsense, Agatha, he's your son for goodness sake!" She got up from her seat and pointed to the trolley which they got their cutlery and plates from, "When everyone goes to their respective ways, each night I will get a plate from here and fill it up with food and take it to this bedroom." She took the full plate and walked to the end of the courtyard, with everyone close by, and slid open the slide latch. Carefully, she pulled the doors wide open.

The room was very dark, the maroon curtains were pulled back, allowing the dull light from the street lamps to shine in. There was one bed in the middle of the room, the duvet had large floral prints on it.

"This is my room, you're not allowed in _my_ room."

Everyone turned their heads to the childish voice but saw a young woman facing the mirror, with her finger pointing to her reflection. "My room. You go away," pouted the woman.

Slowly, Martha walked to her "Sweety, it's time to eat." she whispered.

The girl in front of the mirror bounced around and smiled, "I am so hungry." she rubbed her stomach, as she happily skipped to her bed. "Put my plate here" she said, while pointing to the space in front of her.

She hadn't realised the crowd of rest of the family members until she lifted her head and froze. She never had anyone visited her, apart from Martha. She furrowed her eyebrows and gripped the knife from her plate.

Jerome, was heartbroken from what he had just witnessed. He couldn't process what madness was happening. Madness, what an inappropriate word to of used at such terrible time. Initial guilt rushed through Jerome, but he mostly furious at the lack of care she got. Trapped everyday in a room, with no contact with the outside. No friends to laugh with, apart from her reflection and shadow to give her company. What kind of sick treatment was this?

Fuming, he stalked out of the room and rubbed his face in disbelief. "What happened to her?" he asked, quietly.

For the first time, Richard spoke up, "She's mentally unstable. The fright was too much for her to handle."

"Then why isn't she in a hospital? Why isn't she receiving the correct treatments that she deserves?" Jerome, asked, his voice low. A sick girl locked in a room, with a mind of a child. How wrong is that! Jerome couldn't take it and he wouldn't stand up for it either. "Someone better have a good of a fucking excuse on why she's locked inside that room everyday!" he hissed.

Mara was shell-shocked. All these people she had thought of caring and warm had done such an inhumane act. She could tell that Jerome wanted to be sick and poor Poppy, who had been clueless to the whole thing had tears threatening to burst.

"Think about our reputation if the people had found out about this, Jerome. We would have been classed as bunch of mental idiots. Nobody wants to visit a psycho house, nobody wants to sign any business contracts with people who's got family members in mental institutions. We had to hide this, we would have been defamed if they found out." Agatha explained and sounded completely selfish.

Jerome truly looked repulsed at her response, "I'm going to call a doctor, she deserves better." He fished out his smart phone from his pocket and furiously dialed numbers onto it. As the voice on the other end responded, Jerome headed into his room to continue explaining the heated situation.

* * *

Around 2 am in the morning, Mara sat right up from a single touch on the cold, empty side next to her. Slightly alarmed, she switched on the bedside lamp, "Jerome?" she whispered into the dark.

In the corner of the room, Jerome was dozing off while muttering something incoherent. Mara rushed towards him, her nose flooding with the strong smell of bitter alcohol. On the table stood an empty, slender, tall bottle of scotch whiskey. His round, small glass half empty in his shaky hand. She grabbed the glass away from him and settled it down.

"No, giv' me it back," Jerome mumbled, bobbing his head due to the heaviness.

Mara ignored him and wrapped her arm around his torso and supported him back to their bed. He fell flat on his face, but luckily he didn't fell on the hard floor. She tried turning him over, but he was too heavy. He was still fully dressed and he laid uncomfortably. Untying his black laces, she easily pulled off his leather shoes and dumped them onto the floor and rolled down his socks too.

"They hate me, yeah?" with all his strength, he pulled himself onto his side.

Mara sighed, "Jerome, you need to rest. You just drank the whole bottle of alcohol."

"They should hate me, I hate me," he continued, forcing himself to stay strong. His eyes were a painful red colour because from the lack of sleep and the scotch. He fiddled with his tie, but his hands just kept slipping. He took a deep breath, " It is my fault, like always. I made her go up there."

Mara shook her head. She helped him to take off his tie and unbuttoned his shirt for him, allowing the cool air hit him. "Whatever happened to her, happened years ago. You were both children, you can't blame yourself for it."

His hair flopped down, covering his sticky forehead. He wanted to sleep, but his thoughts kept stopping him and just filled him up with more guilt. "But I was there and nothing happened to me, so why was does she to suffer alone?" He unbuckled his belt and lifted his hip up and yanked it away, "I bet there's nothing even up there, I bet it's their fault she's sick. I bet this ghost stuff is all bullshit!" sneered Jerome. "They probably didn't want to spend any money on her to get better, they purposely let her get ill and ill."

Mara knew there was no point in arguing, he wasn't in his senses to understand anything, "Shhss, you're tired, angry and completely drunk. You need to sleep."

She rubbed his arm comfortingly until he finally closed his eyes and went to sleep. As she was about to lay down too, she heard a knock on the bedroom door, "Yes?" she asked, quietly.

The door slowly opened, revealing Agatha, "Oh, I was checking up on, Jerome...I said some things which...they were entirely inappropriate and I'm sorry."

Mara stepped outside the bedroom, closing the door, not wanting Jerome's sleep to get interrupted. "Inappropriate? What you said to him was far by disgusting!"

"I know and like I said, I'm deeply sorry."

Mara rolled her eyes, "You should say sorry to him in the morning, he just went to sleep drunk because of you and the way you treated his cousin." Just as Mara was about to exit back into her room, she turned to face Agatha again, "Tell me about the Hailey, did she really saw something?"

After a few seconds of thinking, Agatha finally nodded. "Where do I begin?" she sighed, "The spirit in that locked room is called Meredith, she died an early age, 25. It's her who haunts this house, before we got that room completely sealed off. It's for own safety, which this new generation never understands."

"I'm not saying I believe in ghosts, but I find them interesting to talk about because there's always history about them, so what's Meredith's past like? Why is she haunting this place?" Mara asked, finally getting some answers.

Agatha sighed, "History? You're one of those people, hmm." She gestured to Mara to follow her further into the house, "She was in love, to another dancer and-"

"That man, Frank Wallace?"

Agatha lets out a snort, "Fuck no. It's all his fault that she's mad as hell to still haunt this bloody place." she took out a cigarette from her pouch and asked Mara if she wanted one too, but she declined the offer. She bought the blue flame of the lighter closer to her lips, where the cigarette was tightly held, "So, Meredith and that bloke she loved because he was her first love nonsense, were invited to this very manor house to perform for Wallace. So they danced and yada-yada, then this is where it got all messy."

Mara leaned closer "What happened?"

Slowly, she blew out the puff of the smoke and Mara slightly coughed at the vile smell of it, "They danced and danced, everyone enjoying their performance and when their dance finally came to an end, that man she loved, well he went on his knees and bowed in honour and respect to that rich scum of a merchant. And once you knew it, Meredith's face was painted dark red."

Mara's eyebrows arched and she frowned, "Painted red? Why?"

"Wallace was that guy who did whatever he wanted, without giving a damn. He had money to hide his crimes. So him not liking the fact that Meredith, who was still young and pretty, was in love with that man, well he killed him. He killed him in front of everyone there not giving a fucking damn and at that very moment, Meredith cursed him. She's never going to leave until she gets her revenge."

Mara gulped, she had not expected to hear that, "What's exactly her revenge?"

Agatha rolled her eyes, "You're clever, what do you think? She wants to cut his throat and anyone who comes in her way."

**Thank you to those who reviewed. :)**


	4. Argo of her furied heart

Mara had to admit that Jerome was right about how selfish and pure sickening it was to lock Hailey inside, however she couldn't stop thinking how this was breaking their family. Jerome could give glares, look sullen and scowl at everything, but deep down as cliché it may seem to be, he loved his family, well maybe not love, but he would blame himself if they stopped talking.

"Please come out, you can't stay inside in this room, it's already midday." Mara pleaded, crouching beside Jerome who was slouching on the chair.

He sighed through his nose, "I'm not staying in this room, in fact I'm thinking that we both should go out and leave this wretched place." Jerome crossed his arms and closed his eyes, trying to keep his calm.

Mara stood up for a second, to just sit down in his lap and placed her head on his shoulder. She spoke again, "Okay, imagine if we did leave, where would we go? We're going to get our house in five days, so are we going to back to another hotel and just live there?"

He uncrossed his arms and wrapped them around Mara, holding her closer "I don't see no problem in that, I loved sleeping in the hotel and from what I can recall so did you." he pointed out stubbornly.

She rolled her eyes, "I'm being serious here."

"Who said I wasn't being serious either?" He sighed and continued to talk, "I can't stand my mum. She neglected me when I was a child and I was being naïve by expecting her to have changed now."

Mara held up his hand and pressed her lips on the centre of her palm, "She may not have changed as you wanted her to be, but in a couple of years I can see things changing," she smiled to herself "We will be settled down in our home, I think we'll have two children, a girl and a boy-"

Jerome interrupted, "No. I want three children. Two girls and a boy."

"Okay, we'll have three children, who we'll love ever so much. We would be our own family. Perfect."

"Anything is perfect if you're with me."

Mara smiled against his chest, "We will make this work."

He let out a mellow chuckle, "I know."

Mara kissed his sharp jawline "You'll do the right thing, I'm sure." she smiled, snuggling into him and smelling his strong Calvin Klein aftershave, feeling comfortable and at peace.

After staying in that same position for several minutes, Mara finally broke the silence "Guess which two people had a long talk without one of them getting hurt."

Tracing small circles on her lower back, he answered "Without one of them getting hurt?" he gasped while smirking because he knew well enough who she was talking about.

"Your mother and I. Last night, well today at two am. She talked about how she's sorry for what she had said, she offered me a cigarette and explained to me about Meredith."

Jerome smirked again, "And you being so polite, you took the cigarette."

Mara scoffed, as she whacked his back, "As if. It took me a whole year to get you quit smoking like I was going to yes to her."

His deep blue eyes gazed over Mara's warm, cocoa brown eyes and he smiled, "I love you. If I didn't have you in my life, I think I would have been a mess."

Mara's heart fluttered, she adored it when Jerome talked love "I love you too, Jerome and I'm pretty sure my life would have been a bore because I wouldn't have that Clarke dose which I need everyday."

Jerome grinned "Clarke dose, huh? Well, maybe you deserve an extra dosage now."

A blush pooled onto Mara's cheeks, "I think I'm doing fine right now..."

Leaning closer to her lips, he whispered "Are you sure?"

With all her best, she controlled herself from closing her eyes "Jerome, I know what you're trying to do."

"Actually I'm not trying anything. You're going to get a 'Clarke dose' and that too a very a strong one." He bit Mara's bottom lip and tugged on it gently, just tasting, "To hell with soft."

He moved Mara off of him and swooped down to lift her up. Her legs wrapped around his waist, while he held her securely "Jerome, we need to be quiet otherwise...you know...they'll hear us."

Jerome sighed, "Now do you want to go check in a hotel?"

Mara smacked his arm, "Jerome, put me down now." she ordered, stubbornly.

"I was joking." He headed for the bathroom, still holding Mara and twisted the bath's taps, allowing the water to gush down. "Who'll possibly hear us now?" he asked, with a cheeky grin.

She rolled her eyes, "You're unbelievable, Clarke."

He had let go of her and he unzipped the side of her dress, "More talk like that and I'll take you with your clothes on and let them get wet too."

Mara gasped sarcastically, "So aggressive! I never knew you get this frustrated from only three days with no sex." her dress now on the floor. "What'll happen if I say I'm not feeling well today?"

Jerome's head whipped up, "You're dangerous for a small woman like you." he stated and picked out the pin which was holding her bun. Her hair tumbled down, soft like silk hair which smelt of apricot and peach.

"Dangerous? It was just simple teasing, Jerome. I'm sure you know all about it." she replied, smirking.

"Truthfully, I want to get rid of that smirk, but I love you too much to do that to you."

"Well, maybe then I'll just keep on smirking until you get mad," Mara replied smugly, looking through her dark eyelashes.

Jerome groaned, trailing his cold finger down her spine. "Mad? Oh, don't worry, I'm getting there."

Mara shivered, her eyes fluttered shut and she felt her knees go weak, "Jerome." she whispered, just making sure her voice still worked.

His arms held her waist, supporting her up "I love you." and he kissed her lips and she felt his smile through the kiss.

* * *

Mara sat down on their bed, covered by the white duvet, her teeth chattering and laptop resting on her knees, "Do you think I'll find anything about Meredith if I tried researching about her?"

Drying his hair with a towel, Jerome answered "Is that what you think about after we just made love together, some old ghost?"

"No. Of course I don't, I think about Benedict Cumberbatch, obviously," she replied, stifling a laugh.

Jerome mimicked, "_Obviously._" and he threw his damp towel towards Mara.

Mara laughed as the towel fell down on her head, "Nina called today." she said, trying to change the topic.

Simply, Jerome made a face "And I care?" he walked towards the wardrobe and looked for a pair of clothes for him and Mara.

"Jerome, you get so stubborn sometimes just from a joke," Mara stated.

Jerome smirked, "I learnt it from you." commenting from before. He took out a pair of black jeans and a dark green top, stitched with a white collar for Mara and placed it next to her. "So, what did she say?" as he put his arms through his black shirt.

"She's got the key."

"You getting so caught into this room and that ghost. I'd hate to see you when you realise there's nothing there."

Mara thought for a while, "A spirit or no spirit, I find Meredith an interesting person. Her tragedy of a love life and her curse on taking revenge, what's not to find compelling?"

"Well, just don't get yourself too attached."

* * *

Her brunette hair waved around by the cool breeze, "You're not even busy." Nina stood outside, pulling Fabian with her, "You're just going to sit around here, you haven't even met Jerome yet since he's come back."

Fabian smiled, "Fine, I'll come." He lifted up the round and large straw hat which neatly down on her head, "It's not that sunny, Nina."

She twirled around, "It matches my outfit and I'm in a good mood, so I wanted to look nice."

Fabian placed the hat back down on her head and squeezed her hand lovingly, "You look beautiful always." he complimented. "So what's Jerome's wife like?" he asked.

Nina smiled, "She's lovely. We both have so many similar interests, that's how we both got into this investigation about Meredith, that ghost remember?"

"Ah, yes. The ghost. I'm sure it's just an old folk story they used back then, to scare the children. We've seen many cases Nina, it's just science. Our brain tricks us and deceives us. We can't trust anyone on what they see or even their judgment because it's based on their memories which can easily be altered on what the person wants to believe."

Nina rolled her eyes, "Boo. Why do you always have to give your input about science? Even Mara doesn't do that."

Fabian glanced in her direction, her eyes shone in the sunlight "Mara likes science?" he asked.

"Yup. But she doesn't stick it down people's throats though. She's a proper lady."

"Oh, I'm sure. Very proper."

Nina snorted, "Fabian, I'm serious. One more science lesson and I'll go ahead without you."

He laughed lightly, "Yes, okay. Let's go." looping his arm with hers and kissing her forehead.

Nina smiled and leaned against Fabian as they walked, "I'm sorry and I love you."

Fabian replied "I love you too. "

"Sing with me, bell bottom blue."

"I like your voice more. You sing for me, Nina."

* * *

Agatha saw her son sitting, alone. He was on the swing, eyes closed and muttering something quietly to himself. This was her chance to say sorry, but what good will that do? She tried her best to put her ugly side away and think with her heart for once in her life. Finally, she nodded and walked to up to her son.

"Jerome...how are you?" she smiled, slightly.

He opened his eyes. His eyes looked like ice cubes, she knew he wasn't even the slightest pleased to see her. She felt her mind taking over and made her turn around, but then she saw Mara walking into Poppy's room and even more guilt filled her.

With all her might she sat down on the swing too, "How are you?" she asked again, but this time more sincerely.

He stared at her, his face showing nothing "I know I may still love you, but don't worry, I know."

She slid closer to him, "You know, what?"

He smiled, a cold and empty smile "I know it's useless to love you."

She looked up into his eyes again. She saw no remorse. She wanted to let out a cry of help. Her only son despised her and it was all her fault. "Please listen to me, I'm sorry about everything. "

"You haven't got a heart. This is all just formality, you don't mean it. I'm sure Mara asked you to do this, right?" he took a deep breath and asked "Oh mum, where you're gonna run to?"

"Run? Listen Jerome, I'm truly sorry!"

"After every lie, insult and people you cheated and neglected, where will you run to? Where will you hide?"

Agatha pleaded, "Please, I'm your mother. Listen, please."

"At the time of help you'll start praying to God, he'll just advise you to turn to the Devil because there's nothing else which can make anything better." from that he stood up and left her.

Agatha felt a tear run down her face for the first time in years. Her heart broke and her breath hitched because she knew she lost him.

* * *

Fabian shook Mara's hand, "Hi, it's really nice to meet you. I would have visited sooner, but I had some paperwork to complete and-"

"It's fine, I understand. You must be wanting to meet Jerome. I'll go and get him." she smiled.

Fabian turned to Nina, "It doesn't feel like a house which is haunted." hands in his trouser pockets.

"Well, we're going to find out now when we open the room," Nina replied.

Jerome's face lit up at the sight of his old friend, "Rutter! How are you doing?"

The two men shook hands and hugged each other for a moment, "Jerome, you're looking well. Oh, and congratulations on the marriage, I'm glad you've finally settled down." smiled Fabian.

"Thanks. So, how's your job? Nina said that you're a psycho-ist, it sounds like a perfect job for you." Jerome asked, smirking.

Fabian laughed as he shook his head, "Very funny, Jerome. It's pronounced, psychiatrist. It's actually hard work, but the end results pay off really nicely."

After their greetings and catching up, they all decided it was time to unlock the mysterious and so-called 'haunted' door.

Nina's eyes were fixed on the door, which Mara was right in front of with the large key in her hand. Fabian whispered into Nina's ear, "£10 that there's nothing there, but old boxes in that room." Nina rolled her eyes.

Jerome still felt uncomfortable being up there and secretly he wanted to pull Mara away from there, but at the same time he wanted to make a point that it was his family's fault for his cousin's state.

Mara untied the red, long string from the padlock on the door and then pushed the key right into the lock. She took a deep breath and twisted the key around. She, and everyone in the room heard the click of the unlocking noise. In her mind, she counted,_ one, two...three_ and pushed the two doors wide open. A sheet of cobwebs and dust from over years fell down from the door's frame and she coughed violently.

Her eyes watered and she blew five quick sneezes. Jerome patted her back, "Maybe you should stay back for a while, you know you're allergic to dust." but she simply protested and went inside anyway, holding his hand, tightly.

Nina fiddled inside her bag and took out a small torch, "I can't see anything."

Fabian followed her into the cold room, using his phone's torch-light to see the way "Well I don't see no ghost." He found long, maroon drapes covering the wall and he pulled it down, leaving a small trail of windows letting the natural light seek inside the room. "That's better," he muttered.

Strangely, like Fabian had said there were boxes all laid out in the chest drawers and the massive, carved table. Expect they were no cardboard boxes, they were wooden, jewelry boxes. He clicked one open and all there was a pair of red lace classical dancing anklets, with small gold bells attached on to it.

Nina took many photos she could of the room, from the decorated ceiling, the stained, small windows, the floor which was a rich red carpet and the different golden ornaments.

"Bloody hell, this is like a hall. How big is this?" asked Jerome.

Mara walked towards the chest and gasped when she opened it. A murky yellow coloured, silk dress which was heavily embodied with shiny gold lace. Loops and loops of pearl necklaces and earrings. "This is the same dress which Meredith was wearing in that portrait."

After a long hour searching for any signs of a spirit they all slowly exited the room. Mara was the last one to go downstairs. She was in complete awe from what she had seen. Everything was beautiful. She could feel the crowd's vibrations of applause for Meredith and her lover dancing round and round, performing complicated and unique dance moves and hand signs in their classical performance, in her bones and her soul. However, she could also feel a disturbing coldness in the room too, something unwelcoming. Something which made her clench her eyes and her heart dropped down.

* * *

"Poppy's furious." yawned Jerome, stretching his arms.

"Why?" shouted Mara from the bathroom, rinsing the face wash from her face.

"For opening the door. She even said she's prepared to get married if it means she can get out of this house," he laughed quietly, "As if I'll let her get married to any first guy she meets, idiot."

She dried her face, "Jerome! She's frightened of that room, there's no reason to joke about it." She picked up the camera which Nina had used to take the photos. In all honestly, she didn't believe the photos did any true justice to the room.

Jerome opened their bedroom door, "Let's go Mara. I'm pretty sure Poppy is going to eat everything just to get back at me for crying in laughter at her face." he moaned.

* * *

Everyone went to their rooms quite early for the first time, the mood of the house was still shaken by the finding of Hailey. She was now being looked after in a private hospital and Jerome made sure you got everything she deserved.

As the night flooded in, the house became still and silent. Crickets chirped in the background and small noise hooted from an owl in the distance. Crickets are one thing, but owls. Owls are always considered as a bad omen. If you see or hear an owl it clearly states death.

A cracking noise of glass echoed through the house and was closely followed with a high-pitched screaming. A woman screamed and screeched. Not even stopping for a catch of breath.

Mara woke up with a start. Goosebumps forming on her skin. As her mind balanced, she realised what was happening. Jerome was running out of the door and shouting about was happening and adding a few expletives. In the distance, she also heard Poppy panicking, no it sounded like she was crying. Mara finally got up and crept outside. She felt like was going to be sick, the voice was unfamiliar and full of fear.

Everyone had gathered in the kitchen and on the tile floor was the maid, laying down. "Helen, what happened?" asked Martha, kneeling down next to her.

Jerome handed her a glass full of water to Helen, in a hope of her calming down. "I-I s-saw her. I s-saw her eyes. She was r-right there." gulped Helen, sweat dripping down her face.

Mara picked up the broken pieces of the glass tray which was now scattered on the floor in small and tiny pieces, "It's okay. There's nothing here." Mara whispered.

Helen shook her head, "I saw her. You. You opened the door and now she's here. It's happening all over again. The stories are true." she wailed.

Poppy was hugging her father to feel safe, she knew there was going to be trouble and know it was all happening. She closed her eyes, blocking everything.

"Jerome and I looked in that room, there's nothing there. You're mistaken." Mara comforted her, well she tried.

Helen simply broke down into another wave of tears and wails.

Agatha paced up and down the kitchen. She wanted to curse the two who opened the door, but she knew it'll just make Jerome angrier at her and she didn't want that. "I suggest we talk about this in the morning. Helen, get up."

As the family silently walked back to their rooms, the glass cabinet suddenly smashed down. Mara had let out a shriek as the glass merely missed her from giving her cuts which would most definitely led to bleeding. Everyone looked back to see Mara, to be the only one, near the cabinet. _How did it fall? _she thought. Mara lets out a cry "Jerome..."

Carefully, he walked around the sharp shards of glass and helped Mara to move away from it. "Are you hurt?" he asked, checking any signs of discomfort. She shook her head and he hugged her tight, looking back at his family for answers on how the hell the heavy cabinet crashed down.

"It's beginning. I warned you both about, not going up there," shouted Agatha firmly, but everyone could tell her voice was laced with fright.

**How was this chapter? I literally wrote it in 3 days because next week I'm busy as hell due to my language classes and maths exam. Oh, the joy of education.**

**600+ views? That's so cool! Thanks for the reviews and PMs, it's so great reading them. **


	5. High vom furcht

**Heads up, 'high vom furcht' is German which is roughly translated to 'High from fear'.**

* * *

Mara breathed in and out slowly. She had crept back up to the room, but this time she looked at everything with more attention and more care. Quietly, she looked around the room, slightly worried from what happened last night.

Out of nowhere, her heart spiked out sharply when a number of piano notes rang from the corner of the room. Swiftly, she turned around the see a fat mouse skittering around the grand piano. She placed her hand over her chest in relief. Mara wasn't exactly frightened, instead she was more intrigued with the room and Meredith.

Somewhere in her mind was yelling non-stop that her obsession wasn't healthy. However, she blocked that right at the back of her head and proceeded to admire the jewellery and clothing of Meredith's. She walked towards the large mirror, looking at her reflection wearing the traditional yellow silk dress and then back up at the portrait of Meredith. Something was missing, the anklets. Pacing back and forth in the room, she had only found one anklet. Mara frowned, she could have sworn there were two yesterday, but she decided she was just over thinking the situation and ignored it.

She decided to clean up the place. She organised the differently decorated chests, dusted the cobwebs off the canvas and opened the small windows, to let some fresh air in.

From the distance she heard murmurs of talking and greetings. Curiously, she looked through the window and beneath her was the courtyard. There was a man wrapped in an orange toga and wearing a set of prayer beads around his neck. His forehead marked with a red line and he held a copper cup full of white rice. There were two other men similar looking, standing beside him. Martha invited them into the house and led them across the courtyard to the stairs to the room Mara was standing in. Without any second thoughts, Mara knew she should hide, not wanting anymore trouble to be caused when they catch her in the room again.

She hid behind the thick drape of curtains and stood still.

"Please, over here. This is the room." Martha stated.

The man peered at the door and nodded, "You may leave. We will take over now."

Martha paid her respects and exited the room.

The three men stood in front of the giant, grand door and slammed it shut. Mara was still inside the room and she wanted to shout for help. They were locking her in! She heard loud voices of chanting and praying from the outside of the door. "Now I'll wrap the sacred thread around these handles," said one of them men.

Outside the door, the men placed the cup of rice on the floor and prayed one last time to seal the door forever from any unwanted spirits. As they backed away from the door, behind the shut door was a clank. The three men jumped in shock. A quiet noise of bells became louder from the inside of the room and the men gulped in tension. As if someone had held the handles on the other end of the door, the door started to shake back and forth. Someone or something was trying to force open the door.

One of the men whispered, "Who's that?"

An uncomfortable and eerie groaning echoed back as a form of reply.

The leader of the group stepped forward, "Who is it" he boomed, his thick accent loud and clear.

Still with the same unnatural voice and still pulling even more eagerly for the door to open, whatever was behind the door replied back "I'm Meredith."

"You kept me locked up for many years!" the voice shouted another groan of anger, "HOW DARE YOU!"

For the three priests, the voice of Meredith had made them felt that someone left them abandoned with their hearts all torn.

The door swung wide open and a shadow of a woman appeared on the ground. The shadow grew taller and taller as it came closer to the religious men. The air went cold as ice, making it difficult for them to breathe. Sweat formed on their foreheads and they stepped back warily. They kept chanting an ancient prayer to ware off the haunting spirit in front of them. '_Om chandra meeli soorya kuru swaaha'__  
_

At least for a second the unwelcoming and the blood-curdling voice of moans and groans stopped and the shadow went back the dark, hidden from their eyes. But, it only stopped for a second and that one second could have, possibly had a small chance of helping the men to escape from Meredith's psychotic, murderous and rampaging wrath.

Out of nowhere, a shadow of two arms threw a large glass vase which erupted into dangerous shards of vengeance!

A chorus of wails echoed throughout the third floor. Two of the men ran away, in trepidation, for their lives back down to safety and not looking back once. Unfortunately, one of the men, lost and scared to the bone, ended up taking the wrong route. A dead-end. A small wall in his way of safety. He cried and cried and cried. He jumped up to grab the top of the wall to pull himself to the other end. However, in that same beat of his heart racing and pacing, the shadow grew massive. Vorsicht Vor Erlkönig. The lost man turned to see the unknown face of the dark spirit and his face went emotionless. His eyes went blank. His lips went dry.

The monster ate his heart. Then the monster ate his brain.

* * *

It was evening time and the first day of autumn. Tree leaves were lightly wrinkled and crispy. Apple green and red. It brightened Nina's walk to the manor house, colours bursting everywhere and the rich smell of home cooking filled the air. Cinnamon mixed with spicy ginger. The good friend had decided to visit Mara, especially after when she hadn't answered any of her calls.

Mara looked dull. Dull as is not her appearance, but mostly her as her inner self was dull. Her positive spark was oddly dimmed. Something was disturbing and distracting Mara. Nina quirked her eyebrow, "Are you okay Mara?" she asked, shaking her arm slightly.

A strange feeling burst in Mara's stomach. Something of instability. Her head ached as if something was missing, but she couldn't put a finger on what though. However, she couldn't mind the missing piece to complete the picture. Mara did everything slow, steady and with a working mind. So how come she couldn't remember what she was doing before talking to Nina? _Nina? Wait, where did Nina come from? _Mara thought hard, but no luck. She was stuck. Utterly clueless.

"I don't know..."

A look of confusion washed over Nina's face "We were discussing what happened to you yesterday, remember? You went all blank all over a sudden." Nina stood up and gestured Mara to do the same, "You seem lost..."

Mara's head sprang up from her, "Lost?" she whispered as if she was simply testing the word. A short flicker of light broke out in her mind, but quickly fused again. She shook her head, "I'm fine." Mara forced a smile and they both walked down the empty hallway towards the courtyard.

A loud vibrating noise rang from Nina, "Oh, I gotta take this. Be back in a sec." she hurried away with her phone to her ear.

Mara watched until her interest faded away and closed her eyes to clear her muddled up thoughts. She let out a sigh of frustration and as she opened up her heavy eyes.

Her pupils dilated with a force of realization and in a panic, which was slapping her face raw red.

The long shawl Mara had pinned loosely around her shoulders was hung down her back and onto the marble floor. Orange was the first colour she saw. Orange, as if it was foreshadowing the terror which was about to happen.

Mara ran. She ran away from the fiery shawl which she worn to keep warm, but this was burning. However, her blood was freezing in fright. Her mind wasn't counting for how long she had run for, escaping the dangerous fire. It was pointless, the pin was still firmly holding on the shawl and she felt herself stumbling with each step she took. Her surroundings were voiced with cries and shouting. Everything was hazy. Everything was in slow-motion for Mara, when really everything happened so fast. _Too_ fast. Mara's watery eyes saw the figure of Jerome sprinting up to her. Gushes of water was thrown towards her and just that force easily pushed Mara down.

Don sie fehl. Collapsed on the marble floor. Unconscious.

* * *

Cold and shivering in a pile of soaking sheets, Mara coughed violently as she woke up and she opened up her lips to talk, but she couldn't find the effort to say anything. Numbly, she leaned against the warm body next to her.

A large hand rubbed her back in comfort, "Mara, are you okay? Please tell if you're hurt or even the slightest in pain. Just tell me. Please." Jerome spoke, not leaving his arm away from her waist.

Agatha stepped forward and handed Mara a blanket to keep warm, "We heard you shouting and as we got closer, we saw your shawl had caught on fire...how did it happen?" she asked, softly for once. She felt a sense of duty in caring for the small lady in her son's arms. A little door had finally unlatched in heart for Mara.

Silently, Mara stayed still for several seconds until she found the strength to sit up and speak, "I..I was s..st...standing there-" she took a deep breath before she tried again, "Nina and I were walking and then she got a call." Mara looked up and saw Nina sitting on the chair, her hands covering her face. "Didn't Nina see what happened to me?" Mara frowned because her friend was right there when the fire happened.

Nina slowly bought her hands down and they were trembling, "It happened in a blur, I didn't see anything until I heard you screaming. I'm so sorry." she answered, feeling too guilty to meet her eyes.

Jerome's eyes glared at her, "How could you possibly have not seen what happened!'

"It's fine." Mara choked. "I think I want to rest."

Without any thought, Jerome nodded and laid her down gently. "I think it's best for you all to leave. I'll stay here with Mara."

Agatha walked out, but Nina stayed behind for a while "I'm truly sorry. I shouldn't have been so distracted by the phone call...I don't how it happened." she whispered.

Jerome sighed, "Do you think it was an accident or something else?" he turned his gaze towards Mara, who was breathing deeply.

Nina played with her fingers, "Something else...you mean Meredith...?" she gulped.

He kissed Mara's head and stood up, staring at Nina and then finally nodded. He gripped her arm and took her outside the room, gently closing the bedroom door. "Last night, our maid said she saw something. We told her it was nothing, that it was just her imagination acting up...then when we heading back up to our rooms-"

"The glass cabinet smashed. Mara told me." Nina pointed out. "Do you think it's her doing this...I thought you don't believe in these type of stuff."

Jerome ignored her question, "Yes. The cabinet smashed. Now today the shawl caught on fire and Mara could have got badly hurt."

Nina nodded, "You're saying there's more to these incidents?" she asked.

He shook his head "Isn't it clear that there is something going on? There is something here trying to hurt us."

"I don't know. I really think it's just an unfortunate coincidence. I've seen cases like these with Fabian, I don't believe there's an actual spirit here." she replied.

Jerome pushed his hand through his hair "Are you blind!" he hissed. "My Mara could have died because of that fire. How can you possibly say it's just a coincidence? How the hell did fire even started?"

"Okay, okay. You need to calm down." Nina placed her hands on his shoulders, "Yes, maybe you're right. There could be a connection with the smashing of the cabinet and the fire...we just need to think this through." She took a deep breath "I'll ask Fabian. He knows a lot when it comes to these things."

"I'll call him myself," Jerome said and with that he walked off.

* * *

"Rutter." Jerome greeted.

Fabian smiled, "Jerome, how are you?" holding his phone with one hand, while with his other hand he scribbled down notes on his client's file.

Jerome was never the who asked for help from others, in other words he felt that it made him seem weak. Though this was for his wife, he would do anything for Mara and her safety. "You're a psychiatrist, right? Meaning, you've seen these type of stuff."

Fabian sighed, "If you're trying to say I've seen a ghost, I haven't. That's not what I do."

"Yes, I know. I know. I'm mystified from what's happening. What do I do?" Jerome had no clue what was going on, he didn't know if there was really a ghost or if he was going mad or if someone else was causing all the grief. "I need help."

Fabian dropped his pen on the table "Listen Jerome, there's no reason for you to be worried. If you like, I can come and stay over at your place today and If I feel there's something odd going on, we'll both start from there. How does that sound?"

"Thank you...I appreciate it a lot, you know."

* * *

Eagerly, Jerome invited Fabian and Nina inside the large house. He showed them their rooms and they discussed different signs they should look out for.

Fabian being the expert on mental disorders tried to explain that it's more like a person creating the trouble in that house, not the spirit of Meredith. "Do you suspect anyone who would do this? Is there anyone whose behaviour which hasn't been the same to you?

"My cousin. She isn't that well, but we've got her a nurse to monitor her. There isn't even a possibility she could pull this off." Jerome answered.

Fabian lifted up a notebook and jot down the new information, "Can I meet her?" he asked politely.

He nodded, "We sent her off to a hospital, but we decided it was better for her to stay here. Her doctor said that she's shown improvement."

They walked to the room that was once used for Hailey's prison. Her room was redecorated. The window was open and curtains drawn back, there was light in the room and it didn't smell of sickness.

Hailey was dressed in a white baggy dress and she sat in front of the mirror. There was a needle taped to her hand which was attached to a drip: she was finally getting treatment which she deserved.

"How long has she been in this mental state?" Fabian asked professionally.

"Apparently since she was a child. We were playing a game and she went up in that room and then..." Jerome waffled on.

Nina went closer to Fabian and whispered into his ear, "There's no way she's part of it. God bless her, she looks so weak." He nodded in agreement.

Fabian turned to Jerome "I'll like to have a word with the other residents of this house, please."

"Sure. I don't know if they will agree, but I'll see what I can do," he replied.

"Thanks. Do you know how Mara discovered that room in the first place?"

Jerome frowned, he had never thought about that "No. All I know was that she was with Poppy."

"Maybe Poppy knows something about this."

Stiffly, he replied "Maybe, but she hates that room. So I don't think that she really has a part in this."

As they walked out of the room, they were suddenly confronted with Agatha. "What is going on here?"

"Good evening." Fabian responded.

Sternly, Agatha nodded. "What is going on here?" she repeated. "I've seen the suitcase outside the guest room."

Jerome sighed, "I asked them to come here. It's what happened to Mara, I don't want anything like that to happen again."

"I heard you talking about Poppy and if you're going to try to pin this on her, well don't bother. It's going nothing to do with her," she snapped, angrily.

Fabian shook his head, "Please, it's okay. We're not blaming her, we are just going to ask her a few questions."

She frowned, lines formed on her forehead "I don't want any talk about my daughter being the reason for this. She's not to ever be involved." Agatha ordered.

Normally, you would be proud to see a mother defending their child, but that was not the case here. Agatha seemed to notice that the drama revolving around the door was not going to disappear without any chaos. Which was why she made up her mind on finding a noble and good suitor for Poppy. Her daughter wasn't going to get any younger and with all the gossip about her home, she knew it was time to wed her off before there's no man who wants to marry Poppy. It was a horrible thing to think, but Agatha was stubborn and was settled down on the thought of getting her married quick and quietly. She wanted no discussion about her daughter being linked with the nonsense of the spirits and her crazy cousin and that was that.

* * *

Mara yawned loudly, stretching her arms. She had slept for long, tiring hours. She pulled herself up and she felt wide awake. She looked to her left and saw Jerome sleeping and she knew that he was deeply troubled by what had happened to her. She stood up on her feet and the floor was cool which felt soothing against her warm feet.

She pulled the duvet over Jerome and looked at him admirably.

He saved her.

She could guess what she would have heard from him if she hasn't slept, _"Mara! If you're really smart you'll promise me not to go up in that room. Mara! Are you even listening to me?" _Mara quietly laughed at the thought of it, but she knew that she would hear the lecture from him tomorrow.

Strangely, her mind pushed the peculiar thought forward _'You haven't promised him anything yet.'_

It wasn't only Mara awake at such a late hour of the night. Next to the staircase was a chair where Fabian had settled down in. His legs crossed and his black frame glasses laid lazily on top of his head. He was trying his best on, not falling asleep. He truly wanted to fix Jerome's problem. He cared for him and if that meant not sleeping, then so be it.

He saw the look on Jerome's face when he was discussing Poppy. He told Jerome that there could be a chance of her being deeply affected by the recent activities in the house and that could have made her do some things subconsciously. Fabian knew there were tears threatening to spill out of his friend's eyes and he just wanted to open up to him that Poppy was completely fine and everything would be okay. Although, half of that was actually true. Fabian could have been blindfolded and deaf, but he would still know that Poppy was nothing, but a healthy young lady. But, he had no choice. He had to lie to Jerome that he found the reason for all the trouble: his sister. He needed more time to investigate the causes of the mishappenings and if Poppy had to be the scapegoat, then so be it because once he reveals that the inexplicable accidents which was happening was too complicated and there's a strong possibility of things becoming dangerous, the fear of this house would rise and things would be havoc.

Just at the edge of Fabian's tolerance on staying awake, his face stilled and more importantly his hearing sharpened. A sweet voice echoed from upstairs. A voice of singing. If he had to describe the enchanting voice, he would say that he had heard a Siren singing. Similar to the myths of Sirens, mythological creatures having the power to lure sailors to their own deaths, he was also walking up towards the voice in total awe.

Creeping up the staircase and into the hallway to the door, he stood quiet. He thought carefully. Should he continue walking or bring Nina and Jerome with him? No, he thought. It was far better for him to go by himself, rather him turning back downstairs - he shouldn't waste the futile opportunity on finding out some answers.

The singing grew louder and he recognized the noise of the anklets, well anklet. He had taken one of the anklets with him out of pure curiosity, but he knew they would someday pay a great deal in the future for finding clues.

The door was unlocked and if he wanted, Fabian could have easily budged open the door but instead he slid the latch on the outside. He looked at the entrance of the door and towards the portrait of the Frank Wallace. If he supposedly was the reason Meredith was still around, Fabian planned that he should act as he was him, to get the person's attention from inside the room.

He drew out the steel walking stick from the stand, which once belonged the rich man and stomped it to the ground, causing noise. The anklets' bells were put to a halt and all there could be heard was heavy breathing.

Fabian banged the stick on the ground a few more times and then came a voice to tick Fabian's confusion whether if it was a spirit or a person.

"Who is that?" hissed the voice.

Fabian decided not to reply, hoping he could get a more of an extreme reaction. He simply whacked the stick one more time.

The impatient hissing grew angry and bellowed "WHO IS THAT?" the door's big frame started to rattle.

It was at that moment which cleared out everything that whatever Fabian was dealing with was very real, very threatening and very awake. "Talk with some respect! I'm Frank Wallace, the wealthy and renowned merchant of this house." Fabian shouted back, acting how he thought Wallace would have acted back then. He continued speaking, in a low and deep voice which was clearly coated with confidence and amour propre "I order you to reveal to me on who you are."

There was a pause, but the hissing female-voiced laced with death answered back "Meredith."

Fabian nodded, his analysis on Poppy was correct, it wasn't her causing anything. "I demand that you, Meredith to go back from where had came from. Go away, leave this place," he shouted loudly.

A chilling groan roared back and the banging of the door began again, "OPEN THIS! OPEN THIS NOW! HOW _DARE_ YOU LOCK ME UP AGAIN. I WILL NEVER LEAVE UNTIL I KILL YOU. I'LL STAY RIGHT HERE IN THIS HOUSE, UNTIL MY HANDS ARE COVERED IN YOUR VILE BLOOD." screeched Meredith.

"If I promise you that you'll get what you get, will you promise to leave?" Fabian asked, his normal voice coming back.

"I'LL KILL HIM. I'LL KILL HIM! I'LL KILL HIM!" she rattled on and on.

Fabian repeated his question, "Will you promise to leave this house if you get your revenge on Wallace?"

The groans quieted down and the hissing, wheezing and her unnatural voice came back "Yes, yes I promise!" she croaked eagerly.

The breathing of Meredith disappeared and the door stood still and carefully Fabian unlatched the lock and opened up the door revealing nothing to prove there was a spirit standing there begging for murder just a few seconds ago.

Fabian sighed deeply, staggering back down in stupefy on what had just happened. He knew for a fact that this wasn't going to end greatly. Smell of sweat poured out of him, he had to plan his next steps carefully, without allowing anyone else releasing about the possible fatal danger which really was going on.

* * *

**I hope it isn't that confusing, but bare with me it'll make sense eventually when it all comes together. I left a few red herrings which you'll understand later on in the next chapters too.**

**Translations: **

**Om chandra meeli soorya kuru swaaha -** A real prayer. It's in Hindi and is used for protection against any evil eye.

**Vorsicht Vor Erlkönig - **German for, 'Beware the Erlking'. The word "Erlkönig" is an evil spirt in German mythology. There is also a poem called, Erlkönig about the evil spirit that lurks people.**  
**

**Don sie fehl - **German for, 'Down she fell.'


	6. Illusions

A chilling breeze whooshed silently through the ajar window as Fabian scribbled a pithy statement down on his over-used notebook. He paused for a few seconds to collect his thoughts and knowledge and then went right back down to writing.

_October, 2014  
_

_Synopsis: Alleged Haunting in Clarke Manor House. Spirit known as 'Meredith' (see heading Causes) __Upstairs 3rd floor locked up for 20+ years until 2 days ago, where frequent activities were witnessed (see heading Activities)._

_Activities__:  
Witnesses' statement:  
-Neighbors - Sarah Carter and Mike Carter, "At night. Yeah, we have seen her. A white light from that top window on their house."  
-Housemaid - Helen Pine "__...I was in the kitchen tidying up...__I saw this shadow and then her eyes...I saw her eyes and they looked red...dropped the plate."  
-Hailey Scane - No statement - Doctor's statement "Her condition is what we call post-traumatic stress disorder. It happens from seeing or being in a traumatic event. In her case, seeing something which possibly threatened her life."_

_Client:  
__Mara Clarke:  
Age- 23  
Parents-?  
Birthplace-?  
School-?  
Childhood-?  
_

_Causes:  
__Spirit - Meredith  
Meredith:  
Occupation- A young classical dancer in the late 1920's. Hired for parties.  
Full name- Meredith, Second name (?).  
Legend/myth- Partnered with a male dancer (possible lovers) were picked to perform for the rich merchant, Frank Wallace. Guests were all close friends and businessmen. Frank Wallace was known as a brutal, violent man, He was also a Lothario. As the night ended, it was told that the male dancer was selfishly murdered by Wallace. People saw Meredith cursing the merchant to end his life. She was never seen again._

Deeply, Fabian sighed through his nose. Dropping his pen down on the wooden desk, he closed his tired eyes, resting his eyesight from being awake all night. Obviously, he didn't mind because he was doing all of this for his friend. Although, he was slightly shaken by what had happened with the encounter with Meredith behind the wooden and carved door, but he was an educated and an intelligent man. Not in this lifetime or any other, would Fabian ever be sucked into believing in the supernatural. Fabian was determined to find a scientific reasoning to explain everything. All he needed were some more answers and then he could finally go on with completing the twisted and long maze of mystery.

He felt a soft pair of hands caressing his tense shoulders, "You look tired." Nina whispered into the cool air. Fabian took off his glasses and rubbed his temples.

"I didn't see where the time went," he yawned, leaning into Nina's soft grip. She massaged his aching shoulders from the hard wooden chair. "This case is going to take time to finish."

Nina rested her cheek on his head and comfortably wrapped her arms around his neck, "You're stressing yourself over this case, I'm sure there's reasonable explanation for all of this and I know you think the same." She commented.

Fabian nodded, "You're right. I do." He stayed sitting on the chair and finally opened his eyes, "We've got a few more hours until dawn. We should get to bed." He stood up and placed his glasses safely on the desk.

As he reached the bed, Nina traced her finger under his eyes "You're eyes look red. Please for my sake, don't get up again to work because you need to sleep. If you keep this up you'll fall sick." She went to her side of the bed and switched off the lampshade, "Goodnight Fabian." Nina whispered quietly.

For a second Fabian laid still until he forced his thoughts to the back of his mind and turned to his side to face Nina, "Goodnight." He reached for her hand and held it tight for the rest of the night.

* * *

"I want this all cleaned. From top and bottom of this house. Washed, polished and if I see a single spot of misplacement here, well then your job will be on the line. Understood? Good." Sounds, of clapping from her hands, ordered the workers to start their work. The servants of the house nodded respectfully and headed to their duties.

Every inch of the house was being cleaned and redecorated. Vases, ornaments, picture frames, glass cabinets were all being dusted. Obviously, only Agatha knew the real purpose behind all this; preparation for Poppy's wedding. She couldn't inform the rest of the family members and even poor Poppy herself wasn't aware of what was soon to happen, but Agatha remained strong in her aim of wedding her only daughter, even if it was during such unlucky times. Agatha had planned to reveal the idea of marriage at the right moment, where it was impossible for everyone to disagree with her idea. When the desperate moment comes and everyone's morale has sunken and everything felt wrong, it'll be that exact time when Agatha would mention how they should marry off Poppy and there was nothing they could possibly do about it.

John walked around the crowd of servants and maids, "What exactly is going on here Agatha?" he asked, already feeling an award-winning act warming up in front of him.

Rolling her eyes, she turned around to face him, "Oh, John. I feel so low lately and my poor, precious baby boy is going through hell right now. I just thought simply for everyone's well-being, that it's best to clean the house. A fresh and new start." Agatha let out a dramatic sigh, "Things have been really tough and all I want is my family to be happy like they say, a mother's happiness is in her children." She plastered a warm smile on her face and walked off like she meant business, with her red heels clicking. The charade breaking apart, not giving a damn for her husband's thought.

John shook his head at his wife walking ahead, not quite believing a word she had said.

From the corner of the room, he heard "Nina, you don't have to do this." Mara commented.

She shook her head and frowned "Hush Mara. I feel so guilty, I shouldn't have been so distracted. I want to make it up to you Mara. Please."

John turned his head to the two young women and smiled, "How are you both? Mara, I do hope you're feeling better, especially from what happened yesterday."

Politely, Mara smiled back "I'm fine, really. Thanks for asking." However, she couldn't wrap her finger on why everyone kept on asking her the same question. Of course, she was okay, why wouldn't she be?

It was peculiar to say the least that Mara hadn't been so affected by the fire incident. Maybe it was her way of dealing with things - looking forward, never going back - or had she purposely blocked the horrific thought in the back of her mind to let her live in stability, without the fear of the unknown creeping into her system, like a rotting illness searching for its next victim to play with until they're screaming in madness.

"Here, Mara. Sit with me." Nina patted the seat next to her and Mara nodded, but her eyes rolled at the sight on Nina eagerly wanting to 'make it up'.

Mara tried to change the weird attention away from her, not feeling comfortable with all the kind service, "Well, I hope Fabian and your night was good here. You didn't have any inconveniences?"

A light chuckle came out of Nina "Mara, you can stop with the boring formality with me. And yes, we did have a good night." Unsure, Nina decided it was better to keep the bit of Fabian working on the case and how it's going to take a longer time than they thought, she didn't want Mara to get more stressed out. "So, how was Jerome last night? I'm sure he was in a panic right, right?"

Her eyebrows furrowed and Mara frowned. _What the hell is she talking about? _Slowly, Mara shook her head. "Sorry, I've got no idea what you're talking about? Why would Jerome be in a panic? He's fine." she explained.

"Oh no, n-no...Mara, don't say that. D-don't you remember?" Nina asked, eyes widened. As Mara shook her head one more time, Nina felt somehow spooked, but still not quite. How was it possible from such a dangerous accident that had happened to her, that Mara had forgotten. No! Something bad was going on. She felt it. She could sense how they were all treading on troubled waters, going down to the Devil's Den. "Mara, listen to me carefully. Yesterday, you were wearing a shawl which caught on fire. It wasn't a simple or lighthearted attack which you can simply look over at, this is dangerous! How can you even dare to say you don't know?" hissed Nina, fretting about what was happening, "Or...were you told to forget?..." she whispered to herself in disbelief.

Mara listened. Yes, she listened carefully and quietly and do you know what she heard? All she heard was rambling about something ridiculous of some fire which she was somehow involved in.

"Nina, you should rest." Mara stood up and held her hand out for Nina to hold, "You're overreacting. Nothing like that happened."

She bit her lip, an old habit during bad times and cradled Mara's head comfortingly. What was this? Memory lost? Or was Mara in denial, but whatever it was, Nina was determined to make sure no more harm was to come her way "Don't you worry Mara, we'll get to the bottom of this. Everything will be okay."

As if something had crept over her grave, Mara felt a cold shiver down her spine. Eyes covered with a dark presence, a feeling of some sort which she couldn't control. It led Mara to grip Nina's hands which were settled on both sides of her face and closed in forward. So near to Nina's face. Too close. Almost intimate, but lacked the soft and safe side of it. Nina felt uncomfortable, but her legs felt weak, her mouth dry and her heart racing. And those three words warned out.

"Stop getting involved."

There was something about her tone. The way she had said those words as if it wasn't her friend who said it, but someone else.

Eyes boring into her, they stood in the same stiff position. Until a voice of human called out "Mara, I've looked everywhere for you. You both okay?"

Mara returned as herself and smiled at Jerome, "Of course we are." She walked forward to him and they both began

Nina turned to face her, surprised she still had the dare, only witnessing a calm and peaceful Mara who always looked out for others, but she could have sworn there were flickers of disease and torture flying in her pupils a second ago. _What is this? Some sick mind trick?_

Thickly, Nina gulped. Struggling to make a complete sentence. Too frightened. She had to tell Fabian! To tell him how this wasn't a breeze case, but something much worse. Silently, she watched carefully as Jerome and Mara walked away. Her face was set hard, lines creasing her forehead.

* * *

He stopped abruptly and unloosed his scarf from his neck and looped it around Mara, "I told you it will be cold outside."

It was only the evening and the days were already getting darker. Gloomy and dull. "I know, but I like it out here. It's different and it's better than being trapped inside that house all day."

Jerome's eyebrows rose up "Is that how you feel? Trapped?" he asked.

Mara smiled and shook her head and wrapped her arm around his "Not with you though. Things have just been a blur lately, I just don't how can so much things can happen in such a small amount of time. It's making me confused. I feel like there's something missing like it can't be real, but it is and you just don't want to admit it..."

He nodded, "I understand. Fabian told me that it's Poppy doing for all of this. Too much stress and fear. I feel suffocated almost." Jerome explained, slightly pained. He was a brother, he was Poppy's protector. He should have been there for her and he felt that it was his responsibility to keep her safe and he failed her.

"Don't be like that. She'll become better with time," whispered Mara, comforting him to make feel less guilty. He was already upset about his cousin, he didn't deserve to feel even worse because of his sister's ill fate.

"Right. I think we should head back." Jerome said.

Mara pouted, "What already? Are you missing the smell of cleaning products?" she teased.

He tried to study Mara, she was different. "I just want you to always be safe and it's going to get pitch black anytime soon." He gripped his hand with hers, "Let's go now because I'm not going to be running around in my suit at this time of the hour."

"Fine. Besides, I feel safe with you, not where we are."

Jerome lets out a small smile, "Which is why I haven't let you out of my sights."

* * *

"Fabian, please!" pleaded Nina, "You don't understand. There's something wrong with Mara. It's her. Fabian, are you listening to me?" she cried, struggling to breathe.

Her face was pink and her hair was tightly pulled up in a messy ponytail. She had thought all day about the chilling warning Mara had said to her, 'Stop getting involved.' Mara had said it so calmly, but there was a sting to it. There was a hint of uncertainty, even a threat. Therefore, from all the thinking it was driving Nina to the borderline of sanity. She felt like she a walking mess. Wherever she went, Nina could feel piercing and poisonous eyes pouring death down on her soul.

It was needless to even say that Fabian was purely shell-shocked. He had never witnessed Nina to look so broken, so defeated. He pulled her close to him and blew softly into her face, the coolness soothing her sore eyes. "Nina? First thing you need to do is to stop crying. You're better than this."

Nina tried to stop crying, her breathing rate was all over the place and her shoulders rocked furiously. Fabian patiently waited for her to calm down, there was no rush. "Tell me. Slowly."

After a few deep breaths, she began telling him everything. "Nina," he sighed "Are you telling that the glass cabinet crashing, the blacksmith's death and the shawl on fire are Mara's doing?"

With no thought, Nina eagerly nodded, "Yes!" She wiped her nose with her sleeve, "I saw her in Mara's eyes. It's got her." Nina felt herself dropping down to her knees and Fabian crouched down to her level.

"You saw _her_? Who's _her_?" he questioned, wanting her to spit it out and never talk about it again. He just wanted her to be herself again.

It took a while for Nina to answer. She held out her hands and clasped it with Fabian's hands and then turned her head to check the room, making sure it was just them two. With a gulp, she finally found the courage and her lips trembled as she said her name, "Meredith."

"No." he breathed.

He shook his head. It couldn't be. There was no Meredith. He didn't get his parents to pay for his education to believe in such medieval things. "Nina, there is _no_ Meredith!" Nina let out a wail, "Nina, look at me, look at me!" she finally made eye contact, "Get this out of your head. There. Is. No. Spirit. It's your imagination. You need to stay strong. You're my brave girl, don't be like this." Nina simply lets out tears, her voice too damaged to argue. She could almost work out voices of laughter towards her. Laughter and mocking. Her own husband didn't believe her. She was sure as hell that Jerome would have believed anything which would come out Mara's mouth, so why wouldn't Fabian believe her at such an hour.

With no more energy. With no more will. Her head fell back, her body drained out. Just hoping and praying to forget.

Hands gripped her waist and pulled her up. She felt the comfort of the mattress as Fabian laid her down. He sat on the bed, her head resting in his lap as he stroked her to calm her down. Slowly, he began to talk. "I know you're scared, I am too. And don't you dare say I don't believe you, I do. I know you wouldn't make something like this up, but you have to see it from my point of view, Nina. I can't just go up to Jerome and tell him his wife's been possessed. We need proof. Besides, look at it this way, why would she set her own shawl on fire if she was going to survive?"

Nina shivered at the coolness but made no effort to reply back. Yes, he had a point and yes they were both brought up to believe in science and the human brain, but this was nothing she saw. "Nina, it's not a ghost. She isn't possessed." He muttered a few more times about how it was her imagination, but even Fabian didn't know if he was saying all of this for her sake or to keep him certain that were was a scientific explanation for it.

All Nina could do was hope for the same, otherwise they'll be counting their days.

* * *

**This took too long to update, so sorry for the wait. **

**Anyway, thank you for the reviews and PMs. :)  
**


	7. Look High and Low

Music echoed through the old record player in the dark room, with its only source of carmine light coming from the red stained glass. The bedroom door was shut completely, welcoming no one.

She blew lightly onto her newly painted nails, while her other hand searched for the glass of wine on her bed stand. She sipped it thirsty, relishing the bitter fruits in her glass. Her short blonde hair was up to her shoulders, not quite bothered to do it up and she was still dressed in her white laced night-dress.

Agatha may have been classed as 'old' in age, but her spirit was still young. Young and fiery. She seen no reason at all on why she couldn't enjoy her self, let her feel free at times. Just because one grows old doesn't mean they have to quit everything they love in life, which in Agatha's case is drinking, smoking and listening to music. She listened to the song, Dominique, playing through the room and hummed quietly to the tune. She liked this. Being on her own, decking herself up, having some quiet time with her thoughts and best of all, her husband not in her sight.

Gracefully, she stood up and twirled around with her hands in the air, fitting with the music's tune, and walked towards the coffee table and picked up her phone. She quickly dialed a number and waited for the receiver to answer her call.

"Hello?" came out a soft woman's voice.

Agatha smiled and settled back down on her bed, feet up, "Misty, it's me Agatha. I wanted to call you to see how you're doing."

A gush of laughter came through the phones speaker "Agatha! It's been too long since we've last talked to each other and yes I'm fine, what about you, honey?" Misty asked, genuinely happy.

"Good, good." she paused as she fiddled to grab her lighter from the drawer and lighted the cigarette which was tightly gripped in her mouth, "I've just missed you, Misty. From the past few days I'm not feeling well." she exhaled deeply of the cigarette and slowly let it out. Sweet, sweet relief.

Agatha never befriended anybody without it benefiting her of course. She knew well enough that Misty had a nephew who was Poppy's age and he was also from a respectable family. Even better, she knew how much Misty loved her ass and was willing and prepared to do anything she demanded. She felt herself scoffing to herself from the thought of how naïve her 'friend' truly was. Agatha truly believed trust was nothing in the world, just a word with no real action. It was dead to her. From a young age she had to reach the top on her own. She was never born in a wealthy family, quite the opposite. Doing anything which thrown at her, no matter how disgusting and degrading the job was, she done it to survive and get the life she thought she deserved. She fought for everything she's got right at that very moment and no one could ever dare to snatch it away from her.

"So you see, it's just the stress from my daughter's marriage. I want to make sure she gets married into a suitable family. Therefore, naturally I asked you, since you're the first person who comes up to my mind when I think of family." lied Agatha, as she took another puff of the cigarette.

There was no surprise to Agatha when she heard Misty whoosh into a ball of happiness and how it was finally time where their two families would connect and become as one. Agatha simply replied with 'yes' and 'oh of course' just to please her and seal the deal.

She threw her phone on the end of the bed and got up. She slipped her feet into a pair of heels and strolled out of the room, "Hannah? Hannah, where are you?" she shouted sternly.

Helen came running in, "Ma'am? Did you meant to call for me?" she asked, head down.

Agatha laughed at her, "Well is your name not Hannah?"

Biting her lip, she shook her head "My name is Helen, ma'am. Helen Pine." she reminded Agatha, again.

Rolling her eyes, she quickly replied with "Listen, Helen Melon, I honestly could not care less, darling. Now listen, my friend is coming to visit today and I want you to send her upstairs to my private room. Just make sure no one sees her, okay?" And with that, Agatha walked forward, cigarette still in her hand.

Helen let out a sigh, her tight posture relaxed again. Obviously, she felt annoyed that her own boss didn't feel the need to remember her name, but this was the same woman who disliked her daughter-in-law and even her son hated her. She shook her head in scepticism that it was all true, no matter how shocking it sounded.

* * *

All four young adults were sitting around the table, taking their time eating breakfast. However, Nina and Fabian had fell into a quiet conversation between themselves, mainly about how they should focus on not saying anything which aggravate Mara again.

Unfortunately, Fabian still hadn't believed Nina. Obviously, he didn't say that straight to her face, he needed her to believe that she wasn't suffering on her own and that he was with her at all times, but Fabian couldn't make himself agree how it was out of all people, but Mara creating trouble for everyone. It simply made so sense. It was out of shape, too bizarre to even think about it and even try to consider that it was Mara behind it all. No. Mara looked like a normal and average woman to Fabian. There was no complications which would have made him think otherwise. She was perfectly out of the puzzle.

Strong smell of smoke quickly flooded the air as Agatha wandered her way to the courtyard, taking no notice of the youthful group. She was far too engrossed in the thought of preparing her daughter's marriage. Fabian looked up at her and quickly placed his eyesight down, embarrassed on what she was wearing. He took in her relationship with her family, it wasn't the best, but he didn't see any of the family members objecting to her decisions. Was it fright? Public display on how well-mannered the family was? He didn't care and most importantly, he didn't see a reason why she would interfere and cause chaos. She looked like a smart witted woman, maybe a bit too smart. So maybe she did have a role in the mistreatment in the Clarke household.

He moved his sight to Mara. He couldn't help noticing how he knew nothing about her. Even when he was writing down in his journal, he couldn't complete the part on her childhood and home life. Although, there was no chance on him simply blurting out questions to her. He needed to act professional, but they were running out time. How long was he going to waste rambling in that house, he needed to take action.

Sliding his hand to Nina's lap, he tapped her leg twice to get her attention "I've got an idea." he whispered in a low voice.

Without turning her head towards him, he kept still and replied softly, "What is it?"

"Meet me back in our house." and with that he excused himself from the table.

Feeling vulnerable and anxious on being on her own, she quickly made up a reason to follow Fabian, without looking suspicious.

Rushing, Nina quickly made her way to her house, "Fabian, where are you?" she asked, voice out of breath from her hasty running.

She felt a tug on her shoulders and she forced herself to keep her scream inside. Swiftly turning around her spiked spine fell to it's normal form, "Fabian, you scared me half to death." She looked up to him and he rubbed his eyes, "Are you okay, baby?"

He found himself smiling to that, "I was just thinking, but I think it'll benefit us if we travel to Leeds. We'll learn more about Mara."

Nina frowned, "Why would we go to Leeds?" she asked.

"It's where Mara was born." he replied.

She found herself shaking her head, "No, it'll be a waste of time, what could we possibly find out?"

Fabian turned around and began walking to their bedroom. He reached above the top of the wardrobe and lifted the suitcase down. "We should start packing now, I think it's best if we leave tonight." he muttered, as he unzipped the suitcase open. "I should call for a taxi, yes?"

Nina chocked a laugh, "How is this going to help anyone? Leeds is hours away from Berkshire!" she explained.

Quickly, Fabian turned around and gripped her shoulders, "What do you want me to do then? Would you rather want me to go up to her and ask her all sort of personal questions?" He peered her eyes into hers, "If you're right about Mara not being her real self, we have to be more careful. I'm not going to do anything which can put me and most importantly, you, in any harm."

Yet, she still kept struggling to find a counter argument, "Yeah, but...we can't just go now. What if they realise we're gone?" she mumbled.

He leaned forward and left a firm kiss on her forehead, "You're still afraid of what happened to you, but this will be good for you and the case. Trust me, Nina." he pleaded.

She closed her eyes to the feeling of his heavy touch and she nodded. Part of her wanted to rip out of his grip and hide somewhere far away, but she knew something was wrong and it was up to them to be brave, so they can fix everything. "Fine. We'll go." she quietly murmured.

Fabian let out a deep breath, "Good." he nodded.

* * *

Jerome cursed at his phone and whipped it back into his coat pocket. His eyebrows burrowed and he stormed inside his house, his grandma looked up from her book and asked, "Sweety are you okay? You look troubled?" However, Jerome wasn't listening. He marched into his room and looked around, finally noticing Mara sitting on the window sill and staring tirelessly into the night.

His shoulders sulked down and her shook his head in disbelief, "Why weren't you answering your phone, Mara?" he asked. When Mara didn't reply, he became less patience, "Mara! We both told each other that we'll go somewhere tonight, so I was waiting for you outside in the cold for 20 whole minutes! So, naturally I decided to call you and what do I get, no answer."

Mara didn't flinch at his tone, but after a few moments she blinked and her posture reversed back to herself, "Oh. I'm sorry...my phone was on charger...I can't believe I had forgot." she replied.

He shook his head and pushed his hand through his hair, "No. It's fine. I'm mostly worried about you, you seem a bit off." Jerome pointed out.

Tensely, Mara got up, her head down, placed her hair behind her ear and mumbled, "I'm just tired I think." Jerome rolling his eyes, walked towards her "You think? Now I'm sure you're not well." He took her hand and let her sit on the bed, "You can rest, I'll leave you alone for a bit so you can fully relax."

"Stay with me." she asked, smiling.

* * *

"Yes. Yes, that'll be fine. Thank you. We'll reach about 11 o'clock." Fabian said to his phone. "That's done." he turned to Nina, "I booked our place to stay and the taxi will be here in a couple of minutes, you ready?" he asked.

Nina turned around, dressed warmly, "I'm ready. You?" She sat on the armchair and fiddled with her bag's strap, trying to pass the time.

He scooped the bag from Nina's lap and held it around his shoulders, "Of course I am." With his other hand he gestured for Nina to follow him to the front door, "If you think about it, you look at this as a holiday."

She laughed in return, "I don't really see Leeds as the best holiday attraction for me to go to, but a getaway, yes." she replied. They both walked out of the house and the black cab drove past, parking nearby. She locked the door and followed Fabian, who was settling the luggage inside the taxi.

He let out a sigh, "That's done. Now we sit."

Nina stepped inside the cab and sat beside him, "So what are going to do first there?" she asked, getting a more an idea on what sort of things they'll be doing.

Sliding his glasses onto his head, he dug inside his small bag and lifted out his notebook, "We'll go to the hospital she was born in, find some information on who her parents were and see if they have any medical reports that we should know. From that, we'll see what school she was placed in and we can access her school reports." he answered, already an expert on such things as if they were formalities for him.

Slowly, she started to nod, "Right, then how will this help us in your investigation?" Nina took the notebook out of his hands and scanned it to reveal that they were going to be very busy when they reach Leeds.

He turned to Nina, "It'll help us because we'll know what her childhood was like. It'll give us an insight on how she was raised, what she liked, what she disliked, who she was friends with, what sort of parents she had and all of this will give us an indication if it could be her behind everything."

She stared at Fabian on his full working mode, he wasn't taking any break from the case and she was slightly worried. Nina didn't want him to have any strains of the stress from the case, but even Nina couldn't deny that she also wanted to quickly find out if it was Mara behind it or just her imagination.

As the cab shook as it drove over the speed bump, Nina rested her head on the leather seat, "Hopefully we don't have to stay there for too long." Then she remembered about Berkshire and if anyone knows where they were going, "Did you tell anyone where we're going?" she asked.

"Of course not. I just said that I have a friend who needs some help and we're going to him to give a hand. Nothing more. I've got this Nina." Fabian swiftly replied. He then faced down and picked up the notebook. Turning the pages, he peered down to them, "Oh for God's sake, where are my glasses?" He turned and tossed to see if he had clumsily dropped them anywhere.

Nina stifled a chuckle, "You're so smart, but you're always forgetting where you've placed your glasses." She rose hand to slightly cover her mouth, "Maybe you have forgotten them home?"

He thought for a moment, "Maybe, but I remember wearing them there. I swear my glasses just wander off." he moaned, still searching around him in the dim light. "If I don't find them in the next minute, we're heading back home." Obviously he was lying, but at that moment he was far too annoyed to care.

It was too much for Nina to hold and she started laughing, "I can't, I'm sorry." Her eyes were closed, her smile large and there lines forming, "This is too much." she gasped for some air, but then began laughing again.

Fabian stared angrily at Nina, "What?" He was just about to comment again, but his wife's face was looking all free and gay and he just couldn't break it apart. "You should laugh more often." he smiled.

She rolled her eyes, "Oh you softie." she scoffed.

"Can't help it, you look lovely when you're happy and I want to know what made you this way." he twirled a strand of her hair in his finger, "So what was it?"

Nina bit her lip and chuckled one more time, she grabbed the pair of glasses from the top of his head. Fabian started to moan in annoyance, "You've got to be kidding me. I had it with me all that time."

"It was so funny, like let us label you forget-me-not." she giggled.

He sighed, "Wow, even you know that wasn't funny."

"Oh shut up, forget-me-not."

* * *

**I know, I know. There is so many line breaks, but whatever. ****Hope you enjoyed this chapter and thanks for reading. Means a lot. :)**

**Oh and, Happy Holidays! xxx**


	8. The Search

The whole four-hour journey was spent in silence.

Fabian had occupied his time by reading a short novel to pass the boredom as Nina slept throughout the whole way, her head leaned against Fabian's shoulder and her hand gripped in his. Though he knew she'd still be groggy when she'd wake up because sleeping at the back of a cab wasn't the most relaxing way to spend the night. Although, it was comfortable, to say the least, the taxi rocked slightly as it drove through the empty road and heavy rain began to pour down. The pitter patter noise of the rain was soothing, it sounded like a trance and it was something which Nina could go to sleep to.

All the hassle and all the planning was starting to unfold itself and all Fabian could do was hope that it would all pay off. It had too.

Gradually, the taxi came to a hard halt as it stopped by the small hotel. As quick as they both could, Fabian and Nina rushed inside the warm hotel, with their luggage, away from the cold rain.

Nina sweetly fluttered her eyelashes, "Can you go and give the driver the money, please?" she pleaded.

Letting out a frustrated groan, he peered his eyes at Nina "It's raining though," yet he listened to her request and ran back outside to pay the driver. As he scrambled back inside, he was fully drenched with the rain "The things I do for you," he muttered to himself as he continued to walk to the entrance desk asking for their room's key. Nina giggled quietly at the sight of Fabian talking to himself. When he achieved the key to their room he signalled Nina to take their luggage up to their room, he was truly smirking when he saw the horrified look on Nina's face. Rolling his eyes, "I kid, I kid. The doorman will take it up with us." he laughed, taking her hand and heading up to get some rest for the next day.

Nina huffed, "Yeah, you better had been kidding. How was I supposed to carry all of that on my own? Plus I'm all cold and wet." she moaned, sniffing a bit.

"Oh, you're all cold and wet? So how do you think I feel then?" he replied, tugging her along on her tired feet.

She replied dryly, "Ha, ha. Come on, we've got a really busy tomorrow and I'm starving."

"Well, let's go then, after you," he smiled, offering her to take the lead to their room and Nina happily obliged.

* * *

Since the Winter days were at its borderline, Jerome struggled getting warm and as he pulled the silk duvet to cover over his head, he peeped open his eyes slowly and to find, to his surprise, that Mara was sitting up staring towards the dark. "Mara? What the- you're awake at this hour of the night?" he yawned. Pushing himself up, he switched on the lamp and asked her if she was feeling okay.

Somewhere in his mind was flashing red. It was warning him that there was definitely something going on which wasn't right and even when Fabian had phoned him that he had to visit a 'sick friend', that had basically confirmed his suspicions, however his heart was tugging him away from that thought. There couldn't be anything wrong with Mara, she was his and she was perfect. To Jerome, Mara seemed like an angel, she was the essence of innocence and too good for him while he saw himself as a dark and selfish shadow who'd just continuously let her down. Although, Mara would always tell him she wouldn't know how to cope with her life if she wasn't with him.

Though at that moment it was pure irony, he just didn't knew the reality he was living in and probably didn't want to admit it to himself how wrong he was for thinking in that way because everything was changing right before his eyes. He was just too afraid to believe it, therefore, ignored all those signs and tried to drown those doubts.

"I'm fine Jerome. I just woke up a few minutes before you," she replied softly. However, when Jerome still didn't budge to accept what she had said, she continued "Oh and I feel cold and was wondering where I can find some spare blankets for us."

Finally, he nodded, "Right. I'll go and get them for you," and with that he slumped off towards the wardrobe to collect the warm cotton drapes to keep them warm throughout the night. Though the strange thought didn't stop creeping and crawling to settle and feast on his mind, no matter how he tried so hard to bury it away, it would just show up again, taunting his judgement and he couldn't think straight anymore. Slowly, he walked towards the bed and handed Mara a blanket. "You promise to go to sleep now?" he whispered quietly into the dark room.

She nodded quickly, "Thanks, Jerome." and she slid back down. Jerome laid beside her and when he felt a touch of her hand on his chest, he quickly found himself to stiffen up. He took one deep breath and shook off the feeling and leaned himself towards Mara, wrapping an arm around her and forcing himself to also go to sleep.

"How come you woke up?" she asked out of nowhere.

He thought for awhile, he wasn't sure why though, "Same reason as you, I was cold. We should get to sleep, you haven't been feeling yourself lately and it's making me worry."

She hummed, agreeing with him. "Goodnight, Jerome," she whispered into the night.

Feeling the need to calm himself, he leaned down to press a comforting kiss to her forehead, "Sweet dreams, darling." and he felt the curve of soft lips against his t-shirt. Sensing the smile of his wife, he relaxed and softly said "I love you, you know that right?"

She nodded, "Of course I do, silly. I love you too." Her smile grew and she tucked her arm under his and hugged it tightly.

As Mara slept away peacefully, Jerome spent his night disturbed as he argued with his demons.

* * *

Nina woke up to the noise of tapping from Fabian's laptop keyboard. "You're awake already?"

He spun his chair around to face Nina, "Of course I am." he answered. He stood up and placed the laptop in his bag, "I've made an appointment with the Team Leader of birth in the very hospital Mara was born in and she said she's willing to help. From that we can either go the registry office or straight to her schools." he confirmed the days busy plans.

"Right, well, I better get ready quick then," she replied, getting up and tying her long hair up in a ponytail. She yawned and rubbed her eyes, "Have you eaten anything yet?" she asked.

Fabian stood up and placed a plate of food on the table, "Here. I ordered room service while you were sleeping. Eat." He bent down a picked up a slice of toast and took a bite out of it as he walked towards the door to go out.

She scrunched her eyebrows, "Where are you going Fabian?"

"I'm going to go ask for a car from the Hotel for us to rent or shall we walk?" he questioned, knowing well enough her answer would be a no.

Rolling her eyes, "Car, Fabian, car." And with that she headed to the bathroom to quickly have a shower and get dressed for the long day.

The hotel was happy enough to lend one of their cars to Fabian and he was leaning against the bonnet waiting for Nina to come out. In all honestly he didn't know what he was going to discover and learn from their beginning of this investigation. He hoped for anything which could be useful otherwise he'd be back on square one.

In no time, Nina was running through the Hotel's doors and was looking for Fabian, "Nina! Over here." he raised his hand in the air to show her where he was. She quickly walked towards him, "Shall we go?" he asked, opening the passengers' seat door, but paused when he saw that parking wasn't free.

"If you want you can head in first and I'll go and pay for the parking ticket." Nina offered when she looked at the same direction as him to see the 'pay for parking' sign.

"Thanks. I'll wait near for you inside, we can go and meet her together." He replied as he began to walk to the entrance door.

Fabian opened the entrance door and looked up to see a long line of people queuing to get some help for their treatment or to visit a family member. It was a very long line. He felt rude, he really did, but he continued to wander forward to the lady at the desk.

"Excuse me, this won't be quick." Fabian quickly called out.

The young lady looked up and sighed, "I'm sure it won't because there's a line, back of the que for you." she ordered, pointing for him to leave.

He raised a finger, "It'll take a second, really. I've made an appointment with S. Matthews."

"Let me check." She picked up the phone and phoned Matthews's office while staring dead right at Fabian with a frustrated look. "Right, okay. I'll tell him. Bye." she hanged up the call. "She'll be out here with you in a minute, you can wait over there, you've been holding the line up enough now," and she pointed towards the small wooden chairs with a small table which were designed for toddlers.

"Uh, okay. Thanks," as Fabian turned around he found himself rolling his eyes which were when Nina walked through the doors.

Laughing as she stood next to him, she asked, "What are you rolling your eyes at?" Although it wasn't the matter of what, but who he was rolling his eyes at.

Before Fabian had the chance to answer, a lady called out. She put her hand forward to shake greetings, "Mr. Rutter, morning. I'm Sarah Matthews. How are you both?" Sarah stood tall and gestured for them both to follow her into her office.

"We're both good, thank you. How are you doing?" he asked. Formalities. He could have had rolled his eyes one more time, but he knew he needed this to work out.

She nodded, "Please sit. You called a meeting on a birth which took place here, I'm sure you've got all your paperwork to allow me to do this. We're very strict about giving out private information when your client isn't present."

Nina and Fabian followed her into her office and they sat down on the chairs, "Yes. We're aware you can't really be open about this, but we're only really here just to ask if you've got records on our client." he answered. Thank God for the Data Protection Act 1998. He placed his badge alongside with other forms of identification to confirm and to move on.

The lady picked it up and read through it all and as she nodded her again, Fabian finally started to speak about how they need the birth date of Mara Clarke, originally named Mara Jaffray before marriage. She checked the hospitals online server of their patients database in search if there was anyone named that, "We've got 4 results here. What year was she born in?"

Nina answered, "She's twenty-three."

She looked up suspiciously, but went back down on looking at her screen, "Well, there's one born on March 11th 1991, that's the only closest one, the rest are too young or too old." the woman replied professionally. "Do you want me to print this out for you?" she asked, sipping her mug of coffee.

Fabian stood up and shook his head "No need. Thank you for your services, we've got what we need." And with that him and Nina headed out to their car. "1991. Remember that."

They reversed the car out of the car park, "So, now we're going to the Registry Office?" Nina asked, clicking in her seatbelt.

"Since now we know her birth year it'll be easier to get access to her birth certificate." he replied.

Nina nodded thoughtfully, "It's going to take a few days for them to give us the certificate and it'll be around ten pounds. How long are you expecting us to stay here for?" She sighed to herself in disbelief, "Fabian, how long?" she asked, feeling annoyed. She didn't want to come to Leeds in the first place either and now her realising that she'd be staying even longer; she was against the idea and didn't like it one bit.

"I don't care how long I have to stay here if you want to leave I won't stop you, but this is important for me." he answered softly.

Somewhere in Nina snapped, "What do you mean leave? Is that what you want? You're only trying to be this hero, but you're kidding yourself. Coming to Leeds was never going to help us with our investigation." she remarked, instantly feeling ashamed.

Shocked by her anger, Fabian decided it was useless arguing back, but who was to stop him? "I'm sorry, but it's you who's telling me that it's Mara involved in this mess and you were also a complete mess, Nina. It was you crying for endless hours and it was also you who was scared to the bone, so forgive me that I've come all the way here to try and solve it so you can be peace at mind!" He didn't look at her once. He kept his eyesight deeply fixed on the road. Anger was ugly on Fabian and he knew it, but he was so tired and fed up. Wasn't he doing the right thing by coming to Leeds by helping his friend's family? Wasn't that what a decent human being would do?

"Stop the car."

"What?"

"I said, Stop. The. Car." she repeated, a twang of bitterness mixed in her tone.

He drove slowly to path and switched off the engine, "Don't be like this, Nina." he sighed, rubbing his temples.

With no response, Nina undid her seatbelt and pushed the car door wide open and then slamming it shut. Not looking back at the car, she staggered forward not knowing where exactly she was heading to, but she determined to keep on walking away from him.

Nina heard a slam of another car door and her walking pace increased because she really didn't want to think about what all had just happened in the heat of that moment.

"Nina, please. Calm down!" a voice shouted from behind, footsteps getting louder. Her shoulder was gripped, putting her on halt.

"Don't you dare touch me, Fabian," she hissed, "Go away."

He immediately released his hands, raising them in the air and stepping a few steps back, allowing him to give Nina some space. "Are you even thinking straight?" he asked sternly. As Nina shook her head to argue back, Fabian interjected "We're in a place where we don't know anything about and you want to get into a little huff because you don't want to do any work?"

"It's not about the work," she grunted, "I'm just feeling agitated. I don't think this is the right thing to do. What if we learn out something from this and it's something which should never be out in the open? Something which can ruin everything for Jerome."

"Everything is going to be okay." he interrupted, two hands pushing his hair back, feeling the pressure building up.

"Nothing is going to be okay, _nothing_!" Nina stressed.

Their shouting had caused a small crowd of locals gathering out. The people were whispering all sorts of stuff about all the different and juicy reasons why the young couple in front of them were arguing. A small domestic. Nina noticing all the attention began to become slightly shaken and guilt just rolled in, as she stared down at the ground hoping to be swallowed up and spat out elsewhere. Chewing on her bottom lip, tasting the tint of blood, Fabian wrapped an arm around her shoulder and walked her away from the people around them, "Don't listen to them. We're going to get past this, Nina," Fabian whispered, stroking her cheek.

He opened the car door and helped her to settle in, clicking in her seatbelt. As he adjusted himself too, he switched on the engine "We'll talk properly back at hotel and I promise you that this won't hold us back. Trust me." He spoke out, his hand clutched on the steering rod and Nina gently placed her hand over his.

"I'm sorry." She muttered, "I don't know what I was doing, I just feel everything is going to go downhill and I'm scared about what's going to happen." Nina explained herself, "I just wanted us to go back and forget about this, but I know we can't. We said that we'll help Jerome and we should...I'm sorry again for what happened out there."

Fabian didn't say anything, he didn't need to. He simply leaned forward to leave a lingering kiss on her lips. There was no excuse that Nina did felt better than before, but Fabian, behind his smiling façade, felt the need to have the situation in his strong control before everything falls apart.

Stepping into the Registry Office, the two of them went to the woman on the desk, "Mara Jaffray, born in 1991. We're here on an enquiry. We'll want to see who signed the birth certificate. Here's my ID." Fabian reported as he handed him his badge.

The woman nodded and took them inside a locked room. "Do you have an index reference number?" she asked and in response Fabian shook his head.

"You can say this is a vault," the woman chuckled as they stepped down into a cold small room full of closed cages of books. She winded the lever clockwise and pushed the shelves of books to the side to enter the 1990-2000 section. She bent down to pick up the red large book which engraved the year '1991' in bold gold print. "Second name, Jaffray right?" she repeated. Fabian nodded. She turned the pages quickly until she came to the 'J' surnames. With her finger she scanned down the list of names, "There we go. Mara Jaffray, born on the 11th of March 1991."

Fabian and Nina moved in closer to have a look for themselves and looked at the signatures, '_Francis Edward Jaffray and Janice Jaffray._'

The couple went straight back to their hotel room, "I'll search for anything which links to Mara, like if she was part of any school groups or activities and we'll have an idea what school she went." suggested Nina, opening the laptop.

"Sure. We can begin from there. We've got her parents name and they're still around, do you think it's wise if we contact them about Mara?" Fabian asked, sitting beside Nina to look at the screen.

Nina hummed, before nodding "They have the right to know, y'know."

"I know." he sighed.

After a few minutes, Fabian rested his head while Nina kept on searching the internet for anything to do with Mara and then she came across a school's website with a fuzzy photo uploaded of a handful of students smiling, with their hands presenting their medals alongside certificates and one of the students was Mara - finally! Nina understood it had been a long day and with Fabian sleeping, she shut down the laptop, making sure she bookmarked the website and wrote a note which she purposefully left on the table which Fabian worked on, for him to read the next day.

_'Morning, Fabian.  
You were so tired last night so I didn't wake you up, you needed rest,  
but knowing you, you'll be awake early in the morning, but I found a link  
and have saved it onto your laptop.  
You can look into it. I think it'll be very useful for the investigation.  
Nina.  
x'_

* * *

**I found it boring writing this chapter and it's probably boring to read it, but I thought it was important to include this. Since I posted this chapter really late, I'll upload the next chapter much sooner. I'm determined to finish this story, so I can move on to writing something else. **

**Thank you for reading.**

**x**


	9. Deception - Part One

"Yes. I want it ready by 11, sharp. No...if there's a problem tell Gerald...I don't want any calls today. Move it to next week...I don't care, get it done." Jerome snapped into his phone and slid it into his pocket. He looked at his reflection in the mirror and styled his hair back, then moved forward towards his bed where his heart melted, "Mara, baby," he called out as he sat on the side of the bed.

Murmuring something in her sleep, Mara snuggled into her pillow. "I've let you sleep long enough now, wake up." He chuckled as she let out a groan.

Squinting her eyes at Jerome, the blurry outline of his body soon fazed down and he looked handsome. He wasn't wearing his black suit with his tie like he usually did, but a pair of jeans and a dark blue jumper with a forest green scarf looped around his neck. She found herself blushing at the sight of him. He looked fresh, cleaned shaven, his aftershave's aroma smelling so arousing and overall he appeared deliciously luscious.

He smirked at her blush, "I want to know what you're thinking," he kissed on that sensitive part of her ear and shivers ran down her spine, "But I think I can tell." he replied, looking deep in her eyes.

She blushed harder, "Are you going somewhere?" she whispered, swaying slightly from the tiredness as Jerome held her waist.

"Not quite." Jerome grinned, "_We're_ going somewhere and you should get ready quick." He stood up and began to walk out, not allowing her to know where exactly.

Mara shot up to stop him, "Aren't you going to tell me where we're going?" she asked, also grinning because Jerome's happiness was infectious and contagious since it was rare to see Jerome truly carefree.

"No. Dress warmly though, I don't want you to catch a cold," he replied as he held her face in his palm. "I'll meet you downstairs. Be quick." He ordered, his adorable bossy personality returning.

Feeling flushed and excited, Mara jumped in glee and smiled to herself as she stepped into the bathroom to get ready.

While Jerome sat on the glass stool next to the kitchen counter, Poppy walked by "Why are you all dressed up?" she asked, grabbing a teacup from the cupboard and switching the kettle on.

"I've postponed my meetings to next week so I can spend the whole day with Mara," Jerome explained, "She's been feeling down quite lately, I thought hopefully this might cheer her up."

Poppy gushed, "Good, she'll like that, I'm sure."

As if on cue, Agatha ambled in, "She'll like what?" she questioned, her blue eyes glazed sharply onto Poppy and then onto the steam of cloud from the kettle, "Oh dear, Poppy, tell me why do I pay the workers if you're just going to do work yourself?"

"Mother, Jerome is going to take Mara out...and I can myself a cup of tea on my own, thank you very much." Poppy replied as she poured the hot water into her teacup and dropped a teabag in it.

Ignoring Poppy's attitude, Agatha's first initial thought was how smitten her son had become for his wife; she didn't like it. However, when she realised it made her plans easier to perform she simply nodded and stroked Jerome's arm affectionately, "I think that's a wonderful idea, son. She's a lucky woman, you remember that." Lying was like second nature for Agatha. Lying to her son about how she liked his idea made him happy, which made her happy too, but also made her work easier without anyone interrupting. Today was the day where she would finally meet, Mr. Porter, Misty's nephew.

Jerome stiffened at the alien touch of his mother, he murmured a quick thank you, but hastily stood up to turn around to see Mara all dressed. "Good morning," Mara said, smiling.

Poppy and Agatha both greeted her warmly and made their way out of the room, on purpose of course because they were aware they'd like to be on their own, well Jerome would anyway.

"Are you ready?" Jerome asked, offering his hand which Mara took blissfully, "Good girl." he kissed her hand and began to lead her outside.

Following behind him, she asked once more, "Will you tell me where we're going now?" She felt butterflies in her stomach, this was the first time they were going out since they came to Berkshire and she'd forgotten everything about the door, mostly because Fabian and Nina were still away and it was them who'd keep the topic of the door up because they were investigating it.

Jerome turned his head to Mara's direction to see her pouting like a darling, "Now that'll be telling, Mrs Clarke." he smirked. He opened the Audi's door for Mara to slip in and he sat in the drivers seat, clicking in his seatbelt.

"Please tell me, Jerome." Mara pressed, "I feel like I'm going to explode in euphoria, tell me, please."

As he drove, Jerome couldn't keep it away from her any longer, "Theatre Royal." he replied calmly, intact in his composure, unlike the small madam besides him.

"Windsor?" she gasped, her mouth wide open. She froze for a second, her mind in shock until she bounced up and time in complete astonishment, she was awestruck. It was impossible for her to wipe the large grin off of her face, "I fucking love you." she admitted, utterly amazed by it all.

Astounded by her unique reaction, he beamed at her, "Mara, I find you so hot when you say colourful words, but I already knew you love me."

Mara laughed and shook her head in realisation on what she had just said, "What are we going to watch?" she asked as she bit her lip to stop herself from escaping another wild confession.

"We're going to see, And Then There Were None," Jerome answered, for which in return Mara, who'd always be in a respectful and still manner, begun to squeal in joy.

* * *

Helen walked into the common-room with a tray of liqueur and glasses. She placed it on the table and poured out three drinks.

"That'll be fine for now. You can leave." Agatha ordered and Helen respectfully exited the room. "So as I was saying, my daughter would be honoured for this proposal and she's growing up to become such a beautiful young woman, she'll do you proud, Mr Porter. You wouldn't want to wish to miss this one, I promise you that."

Mr Porter laughed in amusement, "I'm sure she's a fine lady, my aunt has told me everything about her and I would love to meet her, please."

"Of course, anything for you. I'll be right back, enjoy your drinks." Agatha replied, pointing to the full glasses.

She saw Poppy strolling into her bedroom and Agatha quickened her pace and hissed, "Poppy!"

Her daughter turned around, a look of question rose up to her face, "Yes?"

"Go to the powder room and deck yourself quick, I've got someone very eager to meet you in the common-room and you will hurry, go." Agatha's faint German accent leaked through her demanding order and Poppy immediately nodded her head and rushed to grace herself.

Agatha patted down her blonde hair and went back to her guests telling them that Poppy would be with them in a minute.

Poppy was worried, her mother didn't mention once who called for her, but she, unlike her brother, became nervous from her mother's strict and intimidating behaviour. She applied some light make-up to her face and finished it off with some pink gloss and flung on her best smart and tidy dress and twirled her hair to the side. Hurriedly, she crept into the common-room to find a smart looking man with her mother's friend, Misty.

He stood up, hand forward for her to shake, "Hello, Poppy." the stranger smiled.

She shook his hand and smiled in politeness, "Hello." she replied. Poppy sat down beside her mother, "Mother said that you wanted to see me..."

"Oh yes, Poppy, this is my nephew, Johnny Porter," Misty answered.

Poppy wanted to laugh at how bizarre and awkward she felt; she really had no idea what was going on and why the man opposite her wanted to meet her, "Oh. Okay then." she replied quietly, not sure what exactly to respond to that.

Agatha noticed her daughter's confusion and rose up "Poppy why don't you show Mr. Porter around, it'll give you a chance to talk about yourselves." she suggested, leading Poppy to the hallway and she quickly whispered "You keep him happy and we won't have any problems. Understood?" Poppy frantically nodded and hurried away from her mother's tight grip.

Poppy felt her throat go dry and then Johnny walked out smiling towards her, "Where shall we begin my tour then, Miss Clarke?" he asked patiently.

Nervous, she bit her lip and nodded towards the terrace, "Do you want to see our balcony...it's got a very nice view up there." her voice wobbled when she asked and she frowned at how uneasy her voice sounded and how she felt her cheeks warm up.

"I will love that, Miss Clarke," he said, amusement shone up in his twitch of the smile.

She knew he smiled because of her blush; she mentally groaned. She walked up the stairs, Johnny followed close by. "This is a beautiful home you've got here, you must have had some good moments here," Johnny commented. They walked through the white marble staircase to the side of the front house and stepped onto the brown wooden floor, with black metal decorated on the floor as the wall. "Wow. That's what you call a sight." He whispered. Different shades of dark green painted the landscape and the stream swam through the large planted trees. It smelt like fresh beauty.

"You should come here at sundown." Poppy replied as she looked up towards the tall man. "That's only if you want to, of course..." she sputtered.

He nodded. He caught her eyes glimpsing on him and turned to face her, "Tell me about yourself." Johnny asked.

Poppy shrugged her shoulders, "Oh, uhm, well there's not much..." she answered lamely. She was confused on what she should reveal to the dark haired man, she didn't want to say something and later regret it because of her mother's objection.

"Oh?" he murmured as he gently pushed a locket of her blonde hair behind her ear, his fingers skimmed the softness of her cheek, "I doubt that, you intrigue me very much, Miss Clarke," he whispered.

"You can call me Poppy, y'know."

"Poppy."

She blushed madly and she wanted to say something back, she wasn't the typical shy girl, but knowing her mother was just downstairs, Poppy held her tongue.

Johnny noticed her uncomfortable squirm, "You seem uneasy, are you okay?" he asked, "I do hope I'm not being some sort of bother for you."

Poppy shook her head, "No, it's fine." she answered as she bit her lip, "It's just- don't you feel nervous?" Poppy asked boldly a change of tone. Mentally, Poppy grinned proudly, satisfied that her timidness was now gone.

"Now why would I be nervous?" he asked, smugly.

Poppy rolled her eyes, "Why?" she let out snort of laughter, "Because my own mother is probably trying her absolute best to hear what we're talking about, that's why."

He looked down at her thoughtfully, "Trust me?" he questioned as he rose his hand for her to hold and accept.

"I barely know you!" she exclaimed while giggling.

"I don't know you either." Johnny pointed out.

A shot of adrenaline pumped into Poppy's veins and grasped his hand, she stared up towards him and mischief played in his hazel eyes, "What are you thinking?" she whispered.

He grinned and closed his fingers around hers and took her down the stairs, "You feel uncomfortable talking to me because you're worried about Mrs. Clarke listening, so let's talk somewhere else. I want to know you, Poppy."

"Oh." Poppy mumbled, feeling slight shocked about how that handsome man actually wanted to know more about her, she felt pleased inside. "Right, follow me, I know this place better than you." Poppy said, her composure back to her normal self. They crept into the back and escaped through the kitchen's side door and they ran outside, laughing together. "Where do you want to go now?" she asked.

Their hands still together, he smirked "I like being with you like this." he commented.

"We just met, you nothing about me." Poppy sighed.

"Then tell me, Poppy. I want to know," Johnny replied.

Poppy unclasped her hand from his, "First answer me this, why are you here and why did you wanted to meet me?"

Johnny's eyebrows furrowed and he scratched his forehead, now it was him confused, "Don't you know Poppy?" he asked gently as he took her towards the small brick wall and lifted her up there for her to sit.

She licked her dry and cold lips and shrugged her shoulders, "No. Should I?" she asked.

Johnny looked back to the Manor House and Poppy sensed his eyes hardened; playful Johnny gone. He let out a hushed curse and swept his hand through his hair, "Poppy, look at me." he held her chin and drawn her complete attention to him, "Your mother contacted my aunt for an arrangement between us. Did she not say anything about this to you?"

Poppy felt her throat tighten and her eyes pooled water in them, "What?" she asked, her lip trembling, "Arrangement, as in marriage?"

He nodded woefully, "I'm sorry, Poppy. I would have never had came if I knew you weren't aware of this."

She didn't want to cry in front of Johnny, but tears escaped down her cheeks, "I'm not even ready to be married, why would she does this?" she cried silently, her hands clasped in a bunch in her lap, "I hate her!" she spluttered.

He moved his hand from her chin to hold her hands and comforted her, "I don't know what to say which will make this better." he murmured.

Poppy pushed his hands away from her and glared at him, "You can't!"

"I understand. I'll let you have some space, goodbye Poppy," he replied softly, returning back sorrowfully.

Poppy rubbed her eyes and she was sure her mascara must have been ruined, then she looked forward to having found Johnny walking away from her, she didn't know what to think, but she called his name and he turned around, giving her a hurt smile. "Do you have to go?" she whispered as she walked up to him.

"Do you want me to stay?"

"I'm just being silly, you probably want to go home now..."

"No, I'll stay."

She shook her head, "It's okay, you can go. I'll be fine."

"No, I'm staying." he stated stubbornly, he took out a handkerchief, "I think you need it." he smirked.

Poppy laughed as she accepted it and dabbed it underneath her eyes, "Oh, I've ruined your handkerchief...sorry." she said as shows him the black marks from her mascara.

Johnny rolled his eyes, "It's only a handkerchief."

Poppy laughed again, "It's a funny word, isn't it? _Handkerchief._"

He joined in with her laughter, "Well, you do sound much better."

* * *

Mara and Jerome walked out of the theatre, the show finally ending, "Can you believe it was Wargrave who killed them all!" Mara gasped, her arm looped through his.

"He was a sadistic killer who brought justice, I kind of liked him actually," Jerome muttered.

Mara rolled her eyes, "Oh and why am I not surprised to hear that." she sighed, "Thank you for bringing me here, I loved every minute." she praised, truly grateful. "Where are we going now?"

Jerome's eyes widened, "You still don't want to go home?" he asked, shocked.

She laughed and she shook her head, "No, I was just kidding, I think we should go, but I did enjoy being in your company all day, that was nice."

"Ah, there we are, should have known you were only joking." Jerome smiled, "I also enjoyed today, Mrs Clarke." He unlocked the car doors with his car keys and they sat inside.

"I'm glad, Mr Clarke."

He drove out to the road and headed to the M25, "We should do this more." Jerome suggested.

Mara smiled, her head leaned against the leather car seat, "I'll like that."

It only took half an hour to reach back the Manor House and Jerome parked the car inside the garage. He sighed tiredly and looked to his left to see Mara sloped against the seat and head tilted upwards, she was gazing at him, "Are you okay?"

It was one of the perks of their marriage, they didn't need to communicate with words because just the one blink of Mara's sleepy eyes spoke to him.

"Come," Jerome instructed his face deadpan.

Mara obliged, she undid her seatbelt and crawled over to him, her legs resting on the empty passenger seat and her arms around his neck. She inhaled the sweet smell from his soft warm scarf.

Jerome kissed her under the jawline and wrapped his hands around her hips, "Put your legs on the floor where mine are." Mara swivelled around so she was facing the windscreen and sitting on his lap, "Take off your jacket." She threw her jacket to the seat next to them, revealing her thin jumper, a similar colour as Jerome's, "Good girl." He moved his hands to grip her cotton skirt, "I like your skirt," he whispered into her hair before he tugged it up to her stomach. He then fiddled with the delicate material of her patterned tights.

"Don't rip them," Mara gasped, her voice all breathy. "They're new and I like them."

He smirked as he leant in to kiss her neck, pushing her hair to the side, "I'll buy you more new ones just like them." Jerome said as he clawed the silk tights in two.

"Oh," Mara moaned, her back arched. She sat there, embracing the strokes of warmth and tenderness within her.

He used his fingers to caress small circles up her inner thigh which made Mara fluster from intoxication of the sensitive feeling she was sensing deep inside her, "So, so sweet." Jerome groaned.

Back in the house, Agatha threw down her drink down her throat, "Where is that girl?" she hissed to herself. She was angry, she was furious. Poppy hadn't returned and Misty left saying she had some business to attend. Agatha wasn't sure if Poppy was still with Johnny or if she'd found out by the wedding arrangement and had gone off somewhere upset.

In reality, Poppy and Johnny escaped to the local bar. Poppy wasn't a drinker, but strangely, she felt safe with Johnny. She drank and spilt all her secrets to him. Poppy was still disturbed by the fact that her own mother never told her about wedding her off, but deep down she actually liked hanging out with Johnny. In all honestly, the first time she saw him, she presumed he was some boring man in a suit, but he was far from it. "I like you," Poppy giggled as she poked his chest.

"You're drunk, we should get you back to your house. You didn't even allowed me to call your mother where we went." Johnny stated, pulling her drink away from her.

Poppy's nose shrivelled, "She doesn't deserve to know where I am, I hate her."

"Yes, but you do deserve to be somewhere warm and safe and this isn't the place, Poppy." he argued.

Johnny held her shoulders tight and lead her out of the bar and helped her to safely cross the road, "Johnny, you can go now. I can make it up there on my own."

He laughed in mock, "Of course you can." he replied sarcastically as he continued to walk with the stumbling young woman beside him.

As the two reached the doors, they heard some talking behind them, "Poppy? Who's he?" Jerome snarled, glaring at the man.

"Oh, he's Johnny." Poppy smiled giddily.

Mara stepped forward, "Are you drunk, Poppy?"

Poppy giggled, "Nooo. Have I introduced you to Johnny?"

Before Jerome had the chance to interrogate Johnny, the doors whooshed open, "How dare you run off like, Poppy! Oh, Mr. Porter, I didn't notice you there, may I ask where you both were?" Agatha said.

"You know him?" Jerome asked his mother.

Agatha felt like slamming something, her anger was at the breaking point. All her planning was ruined, she needed to change her game quick.

For the first time there, Johnny said, "I think we should get Poppy settled down first, she'd had a couple of strong drinks and I don't think she'll be coping anytime soon."

"I agree," Mara murmured, eyeing Jerome to go forward and help his sister up the steps and into the house.

Jerome took over and led Poppy to the sofa and sat her down, he pushed her fringe out of her eyes, "Tell me if you feel sick and I'll help you go upstairs." Poppy nodded, her body ached in exhaustion. However, it wasn't only her who was exhausted, Mara couldn't even stand on her two feet and feeling the embarrassment of the situation with her tights, she felt exposed, but she knew she had to stay for two reasons; find out why Poppy had become drunk and to stop Jerome from doing anything stupid. He was seething. Jerome didn't like what was happening one bit. He wanted to punch that guy in the face, but he brought Poppy home and that too safely. "Poppy, look at me. What happened when I was gone?" Jerome asked.

Poppy sighed deeply and Jerome could smell the heavy smell of alcohol, "Uhm, I don't know. Uhh, my head is hurting." she moaned in annoyance.

"I came here today, with my Aunt Misty," Johnny spoke up, "Your mother called my aunt to set a date for Poppy's and my engagement."

Jerome and Mara turned their heads towards Agatha with open mouths, "You were setting up a match for Poppy, without telling any of us?" Mara asked, deeply hurt.

Johnny coughed slightly, "That's not all, I believe she didn't tell Poppy about this arrangement either. Which was why she was hurt and wanted to go to that local bar, to run away from her mother. I persuaded to come back here."

Jerome fell back on the armchair and collapsed his head into his hands. He felt disgusted. "You're an evil bitch," sneered Jerome, "You make me sick! That girl over there is your daughter! Do you not give a damn about her feelings?" he hissed cold-heartedly.

Agatha was speechless. "I had no choice, she needs to get married!" she spluttered, failing terribly to justify her doings.

"I'll take Poppy upstairs." whispered Mara as she reached out to hold Poppy.

"I'll help." Johnny offered.

As they helped Poppy up the stairs, Jerome stared furiously at Agatha. "Jerome, please, listen to me. This is about our family's reputation. Your wife caused so much trouble with that goddamn door and you found out about Hailey and her mental problems, people would start talking and you bought that stupid boy, Fabian, into our home and he was pointing his dirty finger towards my daughter. If the word came out that it was Poppy who attacked Mara and smashed that glass cabinet, people would have labeled her crazy!"

"I want to laugh so badly at your face because if you think by any chance that is a plausible excuse for scheming such a thing to Poppy, you're wrong." Jerome spat back, his teeth gritted.

Agatha fell to knees, "I'm your mother, don't do this to me. I did what I thought was right, you need to understand." she cried.

* * *

**I'm making this chapter with two parts and I'll upload the second part very soon.**

**Hope you liked this.**

**x**


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